Final Meeting with Atty Before Filing -- Any Advice?

[brennan]

Dh and I are meeting with our attorney tomorrow morning to finalize everything for filing next week. I have done extensive reading here and elsewhere and feel pretty prepared. Any advice for us? I know that's a really abstract question, but I thought I'd throw it out there anyway!

[AZNoName]

I had some questions I prepared for when I filed (Today). They might be more Ch13 related though...
1. When and how can I start rebuilding my credit. If I were to get a secured credit card, do I need to clear it with the trustee?
2. Is my Ch13 payment plan automatically taken from my payroll? How to I make my payment?
3. If I were to sell a piece of furniture after I file for BK, do I need to clear it with the attorney first?
4. When its time to file my 2011 income taxes, how will the BK affect it?
5. When the summer comes and I need to reapply for student loans, do i need the trustee permission? Do i need to contact the atty?

stuff like that!

[LadyInTheRed]

Go through everything in the petition and make sure it is correct before you sign it. If there is anything that needs to be revised, do not sign it until the revisions are made. Don't let your attorney rush you. Don't be afraid to ask him to leave you alone to review the petition or to take it away to review and bring back.

[IamOld]

AZ I can answer a few things:

1) taxes - NO effect - file as normal - if you get a refund, see if your Plan requires you turn over to Trustee - if no refund...no worries, but try not to owe too much (now mind you - do as I say not as I do :-)

2) re how you pay CH13 - that's up to your local district and/or judge and/or trustee. Where we live, Ch 13 MUST be wage withheld - not Trustee's rule, but the judges'. If not you then send them a check or whatnot each month - like to the PO Box in Memphis TN - I am paranoid - I would send it priority mail USPS because that's trackable and you have proof of delivery, at least the first few times.

3) re furniture - if as is "normal" once your plan is approved if the "estate" "vests back with the debtor" I do not believe you need permission to sell personal stuff. In fact your plan and/or "handbook" from trustee will say what you can and cannot do. If it doesn't PLEASE!!!!!!! ask your atty!

And LadyintheRed is SO right - when you look your paperwork over - do NOT!!!! let them rush you!!!

[AngelinaCat]

And double-check and triple check any revisions that you send back to the attorney to revise. We had several mistakes that we had to correct SEVERAL times to our attorney before she got the paperwork right.

As Lady suggested, I think our attorney was trying to get rid of us as this was 4:30 PM on the last business day of the year, 2007. But it was her own da****ed fault, as she had dawdled and tarried, and put us off until we camped in her office. Had we let her push us off until after the first of the year, we would have had to wait seven months to file, as we get a yearly retirement stipend in January, and would have had to wait until after July to file. By then we would have had a couple of judgments to contend with.

Just for the record, we retained her in August 2006.

Good luck to you, tomorrow!

[frogger]

Advice? Remember that this is a process, not an event. Much like watching grass grow and paint dry.

This one term "event" to you is nothing more than old hat to the system. You ain't nothing special.

[brennan]

Thanks for the advice! Meeting went smoothly, we were there about 90 min. as he went over every page of paperwork with us. We did find and fix a couple of small mistakes, and thanks to this forum, I knew about the new median income thresholds, and as it turned out, we were $124 over. Fortunately, we did the rest of the form and did pass the means test with our cars, insurance costs, etc. figured in. Everything else was pretty standard, and we have the paperwork to look over once more during the weekend, and then he'll file next week.

We're looking forward to finally getting to the next step, and again, we appreciate all the advice!

[budgetgal]

Just wanted to say good luck to you. Sounds like you are well prepared and it should be a smooth process!!

[brennan]

Just wanted to say good luck to you. Sounds like you are well prepared and it should be a smooth process!!

Thanks!! Fingers crossed that there will be no bumps in the road!