Pro se vs. Lawyer

[Snowballed]

I'm wondering how many bk filers are successful filing pro se.
My debt is all unsecured credit card debt (about $18,000) and I can no longer afford even the minimum payments. I make about $22,000 a year and have no assets to protect other than an 8 year old vehicle that is payed for worth about 3000 per blue book. I live in Houston, Texas if that makes any difference. (any succcessful pro se in Texas?)
Anyone have suggestions as to my course of action?

[catwhisperer]

My first suggestion would be to call one of the credit counseling agencies. Bankruptcy is NOT FUN! You would have to go through the credit counseling anyhow so give that a shot first. We're considering filing pro se but that is scary as he!! too.

[fellowpoorman]

You may as well do the money mgmt course also as you will need that too, cccsinc.com is one that offers both, you will also have to pay $100

[SinkingFast]

Sounds like you are potentially a straight forward, no asset Ch 7. Unless there's more to your situation than you've said. (Qualifying statement there.)

Basically, you don't have anything to loose if you don't use an attny. Texas has a rather generous $30,000 personal property exemption.

http://www.texasbankruptcylaw.com/exemptions.html

The Median Income for a 1 earner household is $34,408, so income's not an issue.

Your hurdle will be doing the forms correctly. Research how to properly fill those out and you should be able to do this Pro Se.

I'd suggest sign up for PACER and look at how attnys filed some petitions in your area. Look in the phone book at attny's names. Then Query by attny name. That way you can see how things have been filed where you live.

There's a "Sticky" thread that Minny put up top of one of the Sections here on the Forum about what Trustees are to look for in the new forms. It's a link to a New Law BK petition with all the Schedules and such. There are colored pointers highlighting changed areas with comment boxes that contain tips for the Trustees.

Also, there have been a few recent threads about on-line editable Forms. You can search Forms and find those. That will help you in filling in the forms on your computer.

[free1019]

I filed myself before the new law changed. Very easy. Pro se. Straight credit card and medical bill debt. All the secured debt (house) was in my husbands name so it didn't affect me. We tried debt consolidation first BIG MISTAKE!!!! I would never recommend it, My case was smooth, was discharged and now my credit is better than my husbands. My case closed in Jan. 2006, filed in sSept 05. Got ONE normal credit card with normal terms (not outrageous fees and rates etc). Everything is SOOO much better. Would never advise anyone to debt consolidate, it actually made things worse and MBNA, AT&T, and Citibank all filed lawsuits against me while in debt consolidation because they all wanted a lump sum settlement of outragous amounts that I couldn't pay or I would have just kept paying my accounts in the first place. My husband lost his job this month and he filed 7 with an attorney since his case is more complicated with a mortgage etc. Mine was not so I would get an attorney only if there is secured debt or its complicated. If its just credit card, and other unsecured debts (and no liens etc) you can probably do it yourself. Although I didn't have to go through the credit counsouling when I did it because it was before the new laws, but my husband did since he just filed 4-11-06, and it was fairly simple, just a 10 minute phone conversation and you get your certificate. By filing myself without a lawyer it only cost me 149, for online preparation and then the court costs. My husband has spent over 1300.00 for his. Hope this helps.

[rock247]

A Texas Hello

Thanks for the information on pro se, Is everything going ok for you?
I'm upside down in the pocketbook too.Looking to file chapt 7

Good Luck Roc.

Sounds like you are potentially a straight forward, no asset Ch 7. Unless there's more to your situation than you've said. (Qualifying statement there.)

Basically, you don't have anything to loose if you don't use an attny. Texas has a rather generous $30,000 personal property exemption.

http://www.texasbankruptcylaw.com/exemptions.html

The Median Income for a 1 earner household is $34,408, so income's not an issue.

Your hurdle will be doing the forms correctly. Research how to properly fill those out and you should be able to do this Pro Se.

I'd suggest sign up for PACER and look at how attnys filed some petitions in your area. Look in the phone book at attny's names. Then Query by attny name. That way you can see how things have been filed where you live.

There's a "Sticky" thread that Minny put up top of one of the Sections here on the Forum about what Trustees are to look for in the new forms. It's a link to a New Law BK petition with all the Schedules and such. There are colored pointers highlighting changed areas with comment boxes that contain tips for the Trustees.

Also, there have been a few recent threads about on-line editable Forms. You can search Forms and find those. That will help you in filling in the forms on your computer.