What is the best way to find an attorney

[Lostmyjob]

Anyone know a good website for finding one?

Several advertizements in the local Thrifty nickel claim to have the lowest price.

"Lowest price guaranteed or it's free"

Another advert
"Dignity. $59 starts! We guarantee lowest fee in whole Denver area"

Went to a counseling meeting today and all the gal did was constantly tells us we would have to seek legal help. We did get our certificate.

This organization was with the BBB.

[Lostmyjob]

Hadn't thought about going to court to watch cases.

Thanks for that suggestion.

Also don't want to be penny wise pound foolish. But don't want to pay a ton either.

Have a rental unit which went empty for nine months before I lost my job. Was just treading water with out a rentner.

We considered letting the rental unit go to forclosure but my understanding is that can lean against the main house if the auction goes badly.

We have a house that we want to keep. My understanding is you can keep 45K in equity but is there a threashold on a home's value that you can keep?

When we refied the mortage a year ago the house was valued at 230. But I think 200K is a more realistic figure.

[bkfiler]

besides going to court to watch them and see how the 341 goes you can just start making appt as they are all free. find one that you like. call them back with questions to see how they handle you on the phone too.

keep doing it until you are comfortable with 1. sleep on it. then go do it for 3 more and see how you still feel. trust me. its all about comfort for you and what you need from them.

past that you still will never know and could end up screwed anyway, so get them to promise what you need ahead of time in person about how they will handle your case. then you can hold it against them. if its really important to you then get it in writing.

usually BK processes are the same and their staff handle everything anyways, but if things get tough you need the attorney to fight for you and be in control and on time and well liked by the trustee, creditors attorneys and us trustee. they all know each other.

[Lostmyjob]

http://www.bcsalliance.com/y_debt_st...nishments.html

Look up the state you're in, read through it all. This link tells more than just garnishment info.

Thanks my wife is checking out that site.

[edwards2]

Was the company you contacted registered with the BBB or a member? There is a difference. I work for the BBB in Tennessee and consumers have the mistaken impression because a company is registered with the BBB means they have passed the credibility test. That simply means they have registered their company information with the BBB. What it should also tell you however, is whether anyone has filed a complaint against them. Complaints against companies are listed on all BBB websites. Bottom line is $59 gets you a counseling session. I totally agree you get what you pay for. I was told before we hired an attorney to find one who specialized in BKs and that was under the old law. The new law may be a different story. Regardless, you have a lot at stake so do your homework, get your free consults from more than one attorney and select the one who best suits your needs financially and otherwise. I sat in on a few cases and I have to tell you I dont know how some lawyers stay in business. No wonder they charge such high fees because some of them would be lucky to get another client.

[Lostmyjob]

We found them on the BBB website. So I think they would be a member.

They stated they have been in busisness since the 1950. Consumer Credit Counseling Services. A division of money management international.

We were not informed of the $50 fee before hand so we didn't have a check book.

They were kind enough to wave the fee

We got our certificate for counseling.

Really all she did was make a list of our debts, monthly payments, tell us to get legal counseling, and informed us that there is a means test, gave us the forumula for the means test, claimed with the debt management program we could be out of debt by 2011 instead of 2033, but then stated we didn't qualify.

Perhaps I'm just picky thinking a bankruptcy counselor would know some of the basics beyond there being a means test.

[bkfiler]

you gonna take that silly link off your signature line anytime soon?

[sunshine08]

bkfiler - you have been a bad boy (girl - not sure), you are ignorning our nosey question. what is the $39 cc money owed for???????

LostMyJob - check out Pacer and look at your area cases and get a "feel" for those attorneys, call them and schedule a consutation, (it should be free), go to at least 4-5. Before you go to these initial consults get a list of questions - a good way to do this is peruse this site and you will get a lot of useful information and questions (as well as a feel for what the answers might be). Take notes during this consultation, compare answers. Surf the web also, for attorneys in your state. Our attorney was on the other side of the state, we used the phone, email, and regular mail. No missed time from work, convenant, and informative. We downloaded the schedules and filled them out, she required a paper trail from us also, ie check stubs, proof of equity in the house, kbb on vehicles, pay offs etc. She was prompt in answering the questions we had & had I found this site sooner (actually she referred us to this site), I could have saved her a lot of trouble. We had many "what if's".
This is a very important decision and doesn't need to be rushed into. Stop making the cc payments, use the money to pay a laywer and get your necessities current. Bankruptcy is neither easy nor a short process and shouldn't be entered into blindly either, especially with the new laws.
Good luck & keep us posted, if you can't tell we here do care....

[SinkingFast]

I did the PACER thing. That was a good tip Sunshine. I took the yellow pages and researched by attorney name. I found the ones with lots of experience and one with not much experience. One attorney has handled a couple hundred BK's over the last 15 years. Compared to the 2500-4000 that others had handled in the same time period. I also found that one hasn't filed a new case since the 10/17 deadline but he had a bunch in the week before. May mean he's not taking new cases right now.

Anyway, that info helped me decide which 2 or 3 I'm gonna call for consultations. I also plan to call the courthouse and find out when the 341 hearings are to see the attorneys and their clients in action.

[sunshine08]

Plan to stay for a couple of hours, you will get many answers to the questions that you have now or will have. I learned alot there and wished I had of known about this sight sooner, I would have saved my self alot of unnessecary stress and anxiety.
I think time will be on your side, wait as long as you can before fiiing to see how the attorneys are going to handle tthe new changes. Most of the advice my attorney gave us came from experience with the laws and the trustees. This will be new to all of them as well as more time consuming. Get your paperwork together. Bank statements, property values, income verificaions, etc. Good luck.

[robivi3]

Lost, it's basically a "gut feeling" thing also. The guy who generally is straight up and throws out the worst case scenario is likely a better Attorney. Also any Attorney who suggests anything shady, STAY AWAY. If he schisters the Court, he'll schister you as well. Be honest with your Lawyer and also remember, he doesn't do research, you are a debtor, unable to pay bills and he is only contracting for the BK, not the extras. My Attorney handled the extras and worked with me, never WHELCH on your Attorney, pay him when you say you will, TO A TEE.

Meet him personally and notice if he seems open, my Attorney eneded up asking me which software i used for search engines for my side business (Addweb, and he subscribed to it), I did real good in searches, real poor in money handling. It is more your gut feeling, make sure you meet the guy himself. I tend toward searching online and calling. If you are in Broward County Florida I will be happy to recommend him. Even his Web site nows states that BK is not going to be easy.

I see my Attorney at the Gas Station in Davie frequently, he was a young Ben Cartwright and the back of his F350 is always strewn with leaves and hay, that said alot to me, the guy is down to earth. But it was a gut feeling and not just those things that made me hire him.

[Lostmyjob]

you gonna take that silly link off your signature line anytime soon?

That "silly link" gives me hope.

The link is for my 9 month old son. Money made from it will go into his college fund. The club is under his social security number and it will be his money. But I do have a position above him so if he hits I get 10% of his lotto win. If it is big enough I can get my wife the new house that she wants. I'll also get $1 a month over ride. So I will also make a tad of cash if someone joins. But my son will get $25 a month for each team captin.

[bkfiler]

well i was trying to be nice and call it silly. it actually pushing advertisments on us. if advertizing is allowed i'd like to be able to do it myself too. we are here for bk.

why not post it as a separate thread in non-bk category and let people make the choice. there you can explain what it is. im not sure how you made any money as it seems only 45 people have clicked on it and that is probably all form here i would guess. i read about it in the seperate thread.

if we do allow ads then i have a few ready to go as well.

[Lostmyjob]

Back to bankrupsy.

Anyone here use http://www.legalhelpers.com/legal_he..._locations.asp

Have an appointment with them saturday.

Have an appointment with another one on wednesday.

[SinkingFast]

Back to bankrupsy.

Anyone here use http://www.legalhelpers.com/legal_he..._locations.asp

Have an appointment with them saturday.

Have an appointment with another one on wednesday.

I've seen ads for them. I went to their website, entered my info, and set up a time for them to call me. Figure we can use all the help we can get.

I don't know if they will tell me much on the phone tho. I used PACER to get a feel for how much experience different attorneys have. I made a list of several, more experienced but not BK Mill types, to call for consultation appointments. No one would discuss fees or anything over the phone due to changes in the laws. They all said we would have sign some disclosure paperwork prior to being told anything, including fees.

2 Attnys currently are not accepting new clients due to pre 10/17 back log. A couple more simply aren't doing BK's any more since the laws changed. Got appointments with 3 and waiting for one to call me back. That attny is doing all his own BK scheduling now due to backlog and the laws changing.