How long will it take to be through with your bankruptcy case? Experienced attorney Catherine Christiansen, from the Christiansen Law Office in Long Beach, California, explains the basics of what people need to know.
From start to finish, the length of time that a person can expect to be going through a bankruptcy case depends to a large degree on how quickly he acts. For example, certain fees must be paid in full before the bankruptcy paperwork can even be filed with the court, so the speed at which a debtor brings those bills up to date will largely impact on how quickly he can get started.
Like I said, the first part of any bankruptcy filing is up to the debtor. In a Chapter 7 bankruptcy case, both the court filing fees and the attorney fees must be paid in full before the attorney will file the paperwork. In a Chapter 13 case, meanwhile, there is generally a bit more wiggle room. If a client chooses to go with a Chapter 13 filing, we will spread out a portion of our attorney fees and turn it into a plan. So the client only needs to pay a certain portion upfront before we will begin with the proceedings.
Once that has been done, it usually only takes me office a couple of weeks in a Chapter 7 case to start seeing results. Because I have already met with my client at that point, we have already gone over the initial intake of information and signed a retainer agreement.
So once the client has paid in full and we have the rest of the documentation that we need to begin to prepare the papers, we will do that right away and send a rough draft of the filing over to the client.
When a client receives the paperwork we have sent over, he needs to review it as quickly as possible. And based on what he reads, we will go back through the papers and make any corrections and additions that need to be made. And with that, we can officially file the paperwork and put the situation into the hands of the court.
Within 30 days of that filing, the court will assign a hearing date. And in a Chapter 7 case, we will attend that hearing with the client and go from there based on what happens at that hearing.
The process for a Chapter 13 filing is fairly similar. Once we have done the upfront information intake in that type of case, we will finalize the intake and send a rough draft of the bankruptcy paperwork to the client right away.
When a client receives his paperwork from us, he really needs to go through it carefully and read every line. Any additions or corrections that he finds need to be brought to our attention, and we need to make those corrections on the filing so we can turn around and file it with the court and get the ball rolling.
In a Chapter 13 bankruptcy case, we not only have a creditors meeting, but we also have a confirmation meeting and motions that needs to be done to confirm the structure of the client’s bankruptcy plan.
All of those meetings and motions do take a bit more work in comparison to a Chapter 7 bankruptcy case, so that is something to think about as a person who is considering filing.
One of the biggest issues we hear about is people questioning how debtors can afford to pay their attorneys’ fees especially given that they must be paid in full and upfront before we can move forward with their case. To tell you the truth, I don’t always know how they find the money to pay for the fees, but they do. It helps that the fees that we charge at our office are reasonable. But I think it is common that the debtor will manage to find money, maybe from a tax return or maybe from the relief that he has gotten by not having to pay his credit card bill for a month or two. Other times, people borrow money from family members to pay their attorney fees off. But like I said, our fees are reasonable so that is how most people are able to afford it.
If someone absolutely cannot afford to pay for their attorney fees in a bankruptcy case, a number of organizations handle pro bono bankruptcy cases. Our office does handle some pro bono cases as well through different organizations, so that is always an option for people to explore if they are concerned about being able to afford the fees associated with filing for bankruptcy.
This article is for informational purposes only. You should not rely on this article as a legal opinion on any specific facts or circumstances, and you should not act upon this information without seeking professional counsel. Publication of this article and your receipt of this article does not create an attorney-client relationship.
