Just starting out -- scared

[Lisa68]

First I want to say this forum has been a wealth of information. I'm so glad I found it.

We met with the lawyer yesterday -- first visit, just a free consultation, though we met for 2 hours. I went in thinking Ch 13 was the way we needed to go (we have a business and house we want to keep), but the lawyer seemed to think we wouldn't be able to pay off our debts in 5 years (about 100K, mostly CCs). We talked some more and I mentioned that we are currently paying 3000-3500/month on CC minimum payments (up until this month, we've been able to pay, usually on time). Then I guess he realized that we could pay the possible $1667/month.

We do have a small amount of equity in our house and we do have inventory in our business. The lawyer initially suggested we look to get a small business loan using our inventory as collateral. I don't think that will work though. Our business has been in a decline, and some of our vendors have cut us off because of our slow payment history. Also, our CCs are maxed out, high interest rates, etc, etc.

We are not great business people (obviously), so our financial records are not up to date. We are working hard to gather what we need to file and get up to date, but in the meantime, we are scared to death.

How do we know we have a good lawyer? We are in VA if anyone has any recommendations (for or against).

We are still paying what we can on CC bills. We haven't filed yet, so is it ok to keep paying? Like I said, we've been able to keep up until now, and now the calls are starting as we fall behind.

I'm also scared about the other side -- will we survive? I've read so many encouraging posts from others here who've successfully gone through this process. It's the only thing keeping me going at this point. Thanks for being here.

Lisa

[Universal]

You have more than just the 'simple case', such as our case was. First, seek counsel via the free consultation from several attorneys. Then make a decision on the atty. you want working for you. Then the ball can get rolling and get you out from under this cloud.

[HappyCatNC]

I would do the process you did above with at least 2 more attorneys.

If the three attorneys have similar takes, go with the one you feel comfortable with.

If they all have completely different takes on the situation, consider seeing a few more. You'll learn a lot in the process, and since it's free you should take advantage of the resource.

Nolo.org has a great book on Chapter 13, that would probably be helpful. It's for pro-se filers, but seeing the inner workings of a BK will be helpful even though you are using an atty.

[newbegin]

I hope you have looked into finding another attorney. Your situation sounds a lot like we went through, are you sure the one you talked to really did chapter 13's?
Knowing absolutely nothing about bankruptcy we were almost talked into believing that we would have to file chapter 7 and lose everything we've worked for all our lives. Good thing my gut instinct was to keep looking.
After 5 years, we made our last chapter 13 payment May 2010,
business still running and home intact , less the cc debt that was sucking the life out of everything, with a hard knocks degree in business and personal finance.
I am glad you found this forum, I know it will be of help to you.

[Lisa68]

Thanks for the responses. We did meet with another atty and we are proceeding with Ch 13.

[Lisa68]

Thanks for the responses. We did meet with another atty (someone recommended to me by a user here) and we are moving ahead with Ch 13.