Paid My Lawyer Last Week, How Long Until The Ball Gets Rolling?

[DopeyDwarf]

My husband and I had talked about filing for bankruptcy for about 2 and a half years now. We have not made ANY credit card payments since then. He had lost his job for awhile, and we were never able to catch up again, and knew we never would. However, we have finally lived somewhere long enough to actually file, and have finally scraped together enough money to file. I saw 3 lawyers, none of whom I loved, of course, but we chose one, and paid them their fee (all but $50) last week. We have 95% of our paperwork together, photocopied and paperclipped for them, with sticky notes noting what everything is. We are getting our pre-bk certificate (credit course couseling) this week. Today I went to drop off a couple more things at the lawyer's office, and the receptionist (whom I understand does most of the work) said she hasn't even had a chance to get started on our case. I thought, at the least, they would have entered some information by now or something, at least done the means test!!! Just a little concerned because we are on a timetable, will be moving out of state for husband's job transfer next summer. Just wondering if this is normal, and what to expect for a timeline on our filing. Thanks for all your advice and help, I know I will be posting here a lot.

[Tbornetun]

It is only Tuesday, I would say that this is very normal. I usually don't start working on a case until I have 100% of the paperwork in. It is frustrating to get started on a case, wrap your mind around the clients situation and have to stop because you are missing something. The more organized you are in providing the information to the attorney's office and the speed at which you provide additional information which they may request will make it all go faster for you.

[JRScott]

Depending on how busy the lawyer is it can take up to a month. Most lawyer offices are very swamped at this time, so please be patient with them .

[Tbornetun]

Depending on how busy the lawyer is it can take up to a month. Most lawyer offices are very swamped at this time, so please be patient with them .

Thank you for that. In our office we are totally swamped. We went from the majority of our cases being divorce and estate planning to the majority being bankruptcy cases within a year. The economy has put a lot of people in our area in a tough spot. It used to be around 10% of our cases were bankruptcy, now it is around 70% and growing every day. One thing I can honestly say to anyone filing or even thinking about filing bankruptcy is that you are not alone. People from all walks of life have found themselves in a bind that they feel there is no hope of getting out of.

[StartingOver08]

The BK attorney's are busy in my area too. I provided all the paperwork requested and it took about 30 days to get the filing on record by my attorney's office. I did check each week to get the status, but basically stayed off their back because I know they are busy now.

[santadawg]

My lawyer mailed a packet two days after I paid him, he wants it back in 7 days or he wants another 100.00. But I received it after the weekend and the holiday, which only leaves me two days. Give me a break