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It's Ready, Aim, Fire! NOT Ready, Fire, Aim! Research Bankruptcy Attorneys BEFORE You File!

By Joseph McDaniel, Esq.

I've been getting a remarkable number of questions from folks who say, roughly speaking, "My bankruptcy has gone South. I found the cheapest bankruptcy lawyer available (or the closest bankruptcy lawyer available), and he doesn't want to do any more work on my case, and he doesn't seem to know how to deal with the objection to exemption/ motion to dismiss for substantial abuse/ complaint to determine dischargeability/ complaint objecting to discharge/ preference complaint.

I found your experience and credentials as a bankruptcy lawyer on the internet. Can you help me?"

By that point, I don't want to, generally.

After a bankruptcy case is good and fouled up, fixing it is about ten times more trouble than doing it right the first time. Kinda like fixing the raging infection that spread from a routine appendectomy. Or dealing with the necrotic tissue caused by setting the bone without the x-rays. And that's if the broken bankruptcy case can be fixed!

Does that mean that there are never any speedbumps in my cases? Of course not!

Does it mean I can perfectly predict which speedbumps are going to show up in my cases? Hey, if I figured it was going to be a speedbump, I would have done something different with it prior to filing!

And very, very seldom, it's not a speedbump. It's a brick wall.

So I have to go to Plan "C". Or Plan "D". I hate it when that happens!

But I have done this before, so when I see an objection to an exemption, I have a pretty good idea how it'll shake out (which is certainly not a guarantee of a result).

And an objection to an exemption is the most common issue I get to play with these days, given the deep mining techniques initiated by Arizona Bankruptcy Trustees and Arizona Bankruptcy Lawyers representing Arizona Bankruptcy Trustees! All of which were a development of the Great Bankruptcy Drought of '06.

Now, I've lectured to lawyers a lot about bankruptcy issues; and lawyers are generally pretty good students. But I got a call yesterday from a very nice young man who was earnestly trying to determine which debts were her debts, and which were sole and separate debts belonging to her dead husband.

I asked him what would happen if he guessed wrong, and failed to list a debt upon which wifey was actually liable. Or if a creditor disagreed with his legal analysis and sued her after the bankruptcy discharge, even if she had a perfectly valid defense.

He thought for a minute and said, "So I should list them all, all, all? Every possible creditor, without exception?"

Who says Socratic Method doesn't work?

p.s. there is actually a moral here: I don't care if you retain my Arizona Bankruptcy Law Firm, but do your research on bankruptcy lawyers experience and credentials before you retain a bankruptcy lawyer, not after!

You'll save money in the long run, not to mention the lost sleep!

Full post as published by Arizona Bankruptcy Attorney Blog on November 16, 2010 (boomark / email).