Finally, after 3 years I can afford to file!

[tay666]

Many of you here probably don't recognize my screen name.
I was very active here 3 years ago when I first started learning about BK.

We wanted to file back then, but couldn't afford the cost of an lawyer.
Kept hoping, that "next year, with the tax return", but it never seemed to pan out. Something kept coming up.

I spent a lot of time here in 2007 and a good part of 2008.
I learned a lot. But since I was stuck in a holding pattern, I kind of quit hanging around. Only checking in occasionally to stay 'up' on things.

Well, it seems this year is the year.
I just hire out attourny today.
I've talked to many of them over the years. Hopeing to find one cheap enough that we could afford. Ran across some real 'winners' along the way. Quite a few that couldn't even tell me how much the total cost would be until I paid their retainer and they ran our numbers.
What a racket. Glad I didn't fall for those (thanks to this place)

Well, things ended up coming full circle.
I settled on the first one we talked to (back in late 2006 before I had any clue about how this whole thing works).
I thought he was too expensive back then, now I consider his price reasonable. (it helps that it hasn't changed in the 3.5 years in between)

I hope things go as smoothly as he talked like it would.
Apparently the trustees here are not big on digging around for assets. Our county is so poor, they know they are wasting their time as most don't have anything. And when on those rare occasions they do find something, they can't find buyers at anywhere near 'market value' anyway.
They also don't bother with tax returns.
The only thing is that things are so backed up it's usually about 2 months from the date of filing until the 341.

He's been doing this for many years now, and handles about 20-30 BK cases a month in his practice.
I didn't get the impresssion that he was sugar coating things for me either.
He was surprised at first when he quickly realized he didn't need to 'sell' me on the idea of BK. Then I explained that I have been waiting for this day for 3 years. We ran the basics real quick, and he didn't see a problem with a Chapter 7, then quoted me his price. I told him I wanted to hire him, then discussed some of my specifics with him. Getting some of the scenarios straight in my head (like the tax returns, etc)
As I was getting ready to leave his office and go pay the secretary his fee, he mentioned that in all his years, I was the most knowledgable and well informed client he has ever seen.

I owe that all to this forum, and all the great posters that gave me information and advice. As well as pointing me to some great links for information I needed.

I'll give you fair warning now.
You will see me haunting these boards much more again.
As I work my way through all this paperwork now.
And keep everyone informed on how things progress.

I am so glad that we have finally cleared this huge hurdle.
I feel like it is all down hill from here.

[Ann]

[QUOTE=tay666;398474]Many of you here probably don't recognize my screen name.
I was very active here 3 years ago when I first started learning about BK.

We wanted to file back then, but couldn't afford the cost of an lawyer.
Kept hoping, that "next year, with the tax return", but it never seemed to pan out. Something kept coming up.

I spent a lot of time here in 2007 and a good part of 2008.
I learned a lot. But since I was stuck in a holding pattern, I kind of quit hanging around. Only checking in occasionally to stay 'up' on things.

Well, it seems this year is the year.
I just hire out attourny today.
I've talked to many of them over the years. Hopeing to find one cheap enough that we could afford. Ran across some real 'winners' along the way. Quite a few that couldn't even tell me how much the total cost would be until I paid their retainer and they ran our numbers.
What a racket. Glad I didn't fall for those (thanks to this place)

Well, things ended up coming full circle.
I settled on the first one we talked to (back in late 2006 before I had any clue about how this whole thing works).
I thought he was too expensive back then, now I consider his price reasonable. (it helps that it hasn't changed in the 3.5 years in between)

I hope things go as smoothly as he talked like it would.
Apparently the trustees here are not big on digging around for assets. Our county is so poor, they know they are wasting their time as most don't have anything. And when on those rare occasions they do find something, they can't find buyers at anywhere near 'market value' anyway.
They also don't bother with tax returns.
The only thing is that things are so backed up it's usually about 2 months from the date of filing until the 341.

He's been doing this for many years now, and handles about 20-30 BK cases a month in his practice.
I didn't get the impresssion that he was sugar coating things for me either.
He was surprised at first when he quickly realized he didn't need to 'sell' me on the idea of BK. Then I explained that I have been waiting for this day for 3 years. We ran the basics real quick, and he didn't see a problem with a Chapter 7, then quoted me his price. I told him I wanted to hire him, then discussed some of my specifics with him. Getting some of the scenarios straight in my head (like the tax returns, etc)
As I was getting ready to leave his office and go pay the secretary his fee, he mentioned that in all his years, I was the most knowledgable and well informed client he has ever seen.

I owe that all to this forum, and all the great posters that gave me information and advice. As well as pointing me to some great links for information I needed.

I'll give you fair warning now.
You will see me haunting these boards much more again.
As I work my way through all this paperwork now.
And keep everyone informed on how things progress.

I am so glad that we have finally cleared this huge hurdle.
I feel like it is all down hill from here.[/QUOTE With all the time that has passed have you ever been sued? If not, how were you able to hold off your creditors???

[DeadManCrawling]

I remember you Tay, and you might or might not recall us.

We joined around the same time I think, and were facing some similar issues, about buying time and delaying things while we waited for other things that needed to happen before filing.

It is good to know that you are finally nearing the goal.

We filed and are discharged recently, too, so it can be done, and sometimes a few years is no obstacle, if everything goes right.

I am happy for you, and cannot wait to see your post about being discharged. From the other side, from someone who joined around the same time, I can honestly say the relief is very nice. No more worrying about phone calls or process servers, and knowing that our mistakes cannot haunt us forever, has made the long wait worth it.

I think you will feel the same.

[liz417]

Congrats on finally get that BK Ball Rolling....

I had to wait a year before I finally filed because "things kept coming up and I didn't have the money" and I was going crazy! I can't even imagine waiting 3 years! Well, 2010 is your year!!

[Ann]

tay, congratualtions! Very happy you were finally able to file. One question... if it took you three years were you ever sued by your creditors? If not, how were you able to avoid it??? Very concerned that I have had a set back in my plan that a lawsuit may come my way before I am able to file.

[tay666]

We have 3 default judgements against us right now.
2 against my wife, and one against both of us.

None of the creditors even bothered until about the year and a half mark.
That was the first one, one of the smallest ones also.
The most recent ones took forever really.
Things are so backed up around here, even without using any delaying tactics, the process took about 6 months from when I recieved notice of the action, until they were finally awarded the judgement.
One lost theirs. They had been awarded the judgement, but never filed the paperwork to accept it. So the court vacated it.
Another one almost lost thiers too, but got the paperwork in the day before the deadline.
Both of those ended in late February.
I was served notice in early August on both those actions.

So, if I would have attempted some stall tactics I could have probably drug it out for close to a year.
But I didn't bother, as I didn't know when I could actually file.
And stall tactics are just that, a stall.
I didn't see much reason to invest the time and energy in it (and missing work to go to court) if they would probably win before I could file anyway.

Also, I couldn't even really afford to file the paperwork to drag things out either.

[tay666]

I remember you Tay, and you might or might not recall us.

We joined around the same time I think, and were facing some similar issues, about buying time and delaying things while we waited for other things that needed to happen before filing.

Yeah.
I recognize that handle.
Glad to hear you are on the other side now.

I really can't wait for this to finally be over.
I've got so much work to do on this house it's not funny.
But I wasn't sinking any money into it until I was sure I wasn't going to lose it in the BK.
Ohio finally raising it's exemptions last fall really helped.
We just squeek in under the tax valuation of the property.
It isn't worth nearly that much in it's current condition, but I also don't really have the cash to get an apraisal done. If I had to, I would.
But we were ok with loosing it also, as then we would have gotten the cash for our homestead exemption.
Which would go a long way with us.

[tay666]

Just a quick update.
Finally finished all the paperwork for the attourney.
Man, I don't ever want to have to fill that stuff out again.
The creditor list was the brutal part. Having to list each medical bill individually took the count up to over 85 creditors. (would really be nice if hospitals didn't assign a different account number for each visit)

Got our pre-filing counseling certificate done this week.

Have a phone interview with the paralegal Tuesday, then after that will set up a time to go in and sign the papers to finally file.

[wonderingrov]

Just a quick update.
Finally finished all the paperwork for the attourney.
Man, I don't ever want to have to fill that stuff out again.
The creditor list was the brutal part. Having to list each medical bill individually took the count up to over 85 creditors. (would really be nice if hospitals didn't assign a different account number for each visit)

Got our pre-filing counseling certificate done this week.

Have a phone interview with the paralegal Tuesday, then after that will set up a time to go in and sign the papers to finally file.

The medical part was lengthy for me to. Mine was nowhere near as bad as yours, but from 2 visits to the hospital with a stroke over a year ago, I ended up with 14 different bills from that. Add in the collection agencies, and there were 23 different creditors listed. The funny thing is - the hospital itself hasn't been hounding me. But then, if the person at the hospital on my Disability/Medicaid had listed the right start date on my original application, all of this would have been covered fully - but that's another story......

[tay666]

Oh, that number of 85 was just the original creditor. Wasn't even counting the collections agencies attatched to each of those creditors.
I remember one of the bills had 8 different collections agencies attached to it.
Took an entire sheet just to cover that one bill.

[tay666]

Went in to sign papers today.
They are signed but not filed yet. They have to make a few changes for some minor things. Should be filed tomorrow.

Seems things are a bit bogged down around here.
Paralegal sait our 341 won't be until late August.
Which means we won't get discharged until somewhere around Halloween.


Also, turns out there is a fly in the ointment.
One of the creditors that have a judgement against filed a lien against the house. So that is going to have to be stripped out during the BK.
Which is going to cost me $500. Or about 58 hours of take-home pay for me
But in the grand scheme of things, a small price to pay, to eliminate $45,000 of debt. (which is more than the house is worth)

Overall, we will be eliminating over $150,000 of debt.

[ja181]

Good luck with everything.

I had an opportunity to file in 2007, but I held off for several reasons... Finally had my 341 today...

[tay666]

Congrats on finally getting it done.

I soooo can't wait for this to be done and overwith.
I plan on celebrating by going out and buying a paper shredder and finally cleaning out my file cabinets.

[ja181]

Keep us posted!

Did your attny file today?

[tay666]

Haven't heard.
Supposed to be either today or tomorrow, as my wife receives her SSI deposit on Saturday.
Counsel is aware of that.