First meeting with attorney yesterday - Do fees seem right?

[WantToBeDebtFre]

I finally met and retained my attorney yesterday. I've talked to him on the phone a couple times but yesterday we met face to face and went over all of my paperwork. I get a good feeling about him but I wanted to share my out of pocket costs and see what you all thought of it. He's charging me $1500 up front for a Chap 7 and I have to pay the $299 filing fee and counseling sessions (before and after).

He said that after my bankruptcy is discharged for no cost he'll help me draft letters to the credit bureau to get my credit report accurate. He'll also sue creditors that aren't in compliance and split the awards 50/50 with me.

So what do you all think?

[HHM]

That fee sounds about right?

Keep in mind, fees vary by state, city and region. But $1,500 plus filing fee is not excessive.

[thewife]

You have to pay the full $1500 now, or is there a smaller retainer fee? I paid $500 up front retainer fee, and made payments on the rest as I could. I paid a little over $2,000 for my entire bankruptcy. I think the fee sounds about reasonable, unless you have to pay the full amount now without payment options.

[WantToBeDebtFre]

He'll take payments but he won't file until he gets the whole $1500.

[tiredofdebt1]

the filing fee isn't included?

[WantToBeDebtFre]

No. I assumed to filing fee would be included but it's not.

[tiredofdebt1]

Thats weird....everything is included except for counseling sessions.....mines is $925 for a ch. 7. My attorney did up her price to $1255.....i made it in before that.

[HHM]

As I said, that fee is fine. Although some attorney's accept payment plans for chapter 7's (it is only because the court allows it, most courts don't...reason being, most of the work an attorney does in filing a BK is done BEFOR actually filing the case, so if there is any amount of money that is still owed to the attorney, that money is a DEBT).

[familyof7]

That is actually good. He is going to help with credit report and help sue with no more money upfront that is worth it if you ask me.

[PaKettle]

I finally met and retained my attorney yesterday. I've talked to him on the phone a couple times but yesterday we met face to face and went over all of my paperwork. I get a good feeling about him but I wanted to share my out of pocket costs and see what you all thought of it. He's charging me $1500 up front for a Chap 7 and I have to pay the $299 filing fee and counseling sessions (before and after).

He said that after my bankruptcy is discharged for no cost he'll help me draft letters to the credit bureau to get my credit report accurate. He'll also sue creditors that aren't in compliance and split the awards 50/50 with me.

So what do you all think?

I think the fee is very average.
I talked with about 6 attorneys and their prices ranged from $975 to $4000. The one I chose was $1275 + filing fee plus credit reports + credit counseling class.

[guzzie]

worth every penny....good luck.....guzzie

[ARO96]

I had to pay my attorney up front $1050. He filed today, and I gave him 4 post dated checks for the next four months. Each check is $187.50. Total is $1800.00. Most of the attorney's we talked to were in the 1800-2000 range. This is the only attorney to accepted the payment plan, the others wanted it up front. Fortunately, a friend of my husband's used this attorney for his bk and was satisfied, so we felt good using him. Real nice attorney and staff as well. Made us feel real comfortable about the bk, very friendly staff.