Help!

[Kircaldi]

Can someone please give me a little insight? I filed for Bankruptcy in October, a couple of days before the cutoff for the new laws. I had the meeting, none of my creditors showed up. Well, my husband and I have a lawsuit against the state for a car accident we were involved in in 2000. Our lawyer told us that we didn't need to put anything in our paperwork about since at the time we had heard nothing for years from my husband's lawyer (my part of the case was settled in February). Well, it came out at the hearing, and as usual my lawyer kept his mouth shut and said nothing. He never sent us any copies of any paperwork that his slutty secretary kept screwing up (5 times!), and he never returns our phone calls. Ever. We were surprised when we were called to front of the room for our turn at the 341 meeting that he actually stood up and sat with us. Anyways, my husband mentioned our case (not a million dollar lawsuit here, either) and the trustee was a partner of the lawyer handling my husband's case. The trustee said he'd talk to his attorney and see where the case was and if there was a conflict of interest. This was in the middle of December. We haven't heard anything about whether or not our debt is going to be discharged. We were told by our lawyer (that we had to track down in the building after the meeting) that we would get a letter, and then he left. He hasn't returned any of our calls, not that he ever did. I don't know what's going to happen. We asked if he had ever had a case like ours before, and he said no. Does anyone know what might happen? I'm almost 40,000 in debt, and might see 5,000 if we get a settlement from the state for my husband. That's a big if with penndot. I'm absolutely terrified. I own nothing of value, and I'm barely surviving as it is with my household bills. I can't get any kind of help or assistance, and I can't get any kind of a loan until this bankruptcy goes through, if it even does. I want to go back to school, but I can't get any type of loan or grant until this is done. Please help!

[StaciMM]

What state did you file in? States have exemptions, there might be something that would protect the suit.

[bkfiler]

you attorney tellin gyou not to list it is wrong. if there is a pending lawsuit the trustee wants to know about it. they will take it if you cant exempt it.

keep on your attorney and be frank, stern. id does not matter if you make him unhappy. he needs to deal with your questions. it is actually the law that he do so. thats what the fee is for. its written in stone by the BK court. i laughed when i read it somewhere.

[Kircaldi]

We are from Pennsylvania. It's not like we are expecting any large sums of money here. We have called our attorney everyday for about a month now, and not only does he not return our calls, I think they sometimes take their phone off the hook because it's sometimes busy for a couple hours, then it rings and rings and rings. His office is 30 miles away, and traveling in Pennsylvania in the winter with two young children is not exactly easy. I'm only 26 and I want to just finish this and be done - I don't want to be paying for this for the rest of my life.

[bkfiler]

i understand. you must take stronger action. email him, leave messages, explain that he needs to handle your case as required.

get stricter each time. try consulting with another attorney. do whatever you can see get your information that you need.

[Kircaldi]

I wish that I could. He's probably pissed because it took us four years to be able to save up the money to pay him off entirely. Well over a grand. It was awful sitting in that room waiting for our turn to be discharged only to be left hanging. I don't know what to do! I wish someone could tell me everything I need to know, but I know that is not going to happen. I'm almost half tempted to try calling the trustee. I doubt that that would do any good, though. I'm at the end of my rope. It's so damned frustrating. You know, my lawyer even had the nerve to call me and tell my answering machine that I had one week to get my papers in or he would dismiss my case. Let me tell you - If he had had the papers done right the first time three months before that this would never have happened. Also, if he would answer his phone and talk to me. Or if when I did get a hold of him and he told me he would be in his office, maybe he should've been there when he said he would. Or maybe if he pulled his dick out of his secretary once in a while he'd know what was going on with the rest of the world. The more I think about it the more pissed I get. And scared. I can't ever afford to pay back 40 to 50 thousand dollars of debt. Right now I can't even afford kerosene to heat my house. I'm running up my electric with electric heaters and praying to god my electric bill isn't through the roof next month. How long does it actually take to get a reply from the court?!?

[bkfiler]

you are going to have to be more specific. what reply from the court are you looking for?

[Kircaldi]

I want my debt discharged. Or at least I would like to know if it is not going to be. I don't care if they take my husband's settlement money. I just want to know what's going on.

[Kircaldi]

Or better yet - how screwed I'm going to get. My lawyer told us absolutely nothing. We had no idea what we were getting into. All I know is from what I read here and other sites on the internet.

[bkfiler]

well i hope it gets discharged. none of us can never know until the actual discharge comes 60 days after the 341 meeting. the trustee isnt going to tell you before hand if the discharge is going to happen.

in you case you need to call the attorney with specific questions and be blunt, simple and keep it short. do it each day until you get answers.

[bkfiler]

another thing to remeber is it sounds to me like its in progress. its up to them if they are going to take it or not. im not sure if you can do anything about it yet until they try to take something.

in the meantime work on improving your situation. taking out more loans is not a good idea o ryou migh tget yourself back into the same situation again and you cant file for 8 more years.

[Kircaldi]

I want to go back to school and get a better job paying me more than 9.55 an hour at 25 hours a week( if I'm lucky) . I'm not going to get out of this situation until I take the chance to better it. I was told by a friend that I wouldn't be able to get any kind of grants until my bankruptcy is final and I know the debt is discharged. God only knows when that will happen. I'm just tired of being broke and not having a way out. This was supposed to be the way out, and it doesn't seem like it did us any good at all.

[StaciMM]

A ch. 7 normally runs 90-120 days from file to discharge.