If you need to talk to an attorney, you can.

Most people do not need to talk to an attorney let alone hire one for their bankruptcy, but if you need to talk to an attorney, you can. We provide you at no extra charge from us, access to attys who are willing to answer your questions for often less than $30 ^[1] and sometimes for free. (Please note that we do not receive an compensation or referral fee from the attys.)

Compared to $300 to $400 per hour attorney fees, people wonder why an attorney would accept only $20 or $30, but the answer is quite straight forward. The typical bankruptcy question is short and requires a simple answer and while $20 or $30 may seem very little, it is plenty for the little amount of time it takes the attys to answer. Also, it helps establish a new relationship for the attys that could pay off later in referrals for their other services.

Unless you have a corporation or complicated situation, you do not need even to talk to an attorney. Those who choose to talk to an attorney do so because, even though they have heard the answer to their questions from other sources, they feel better to have it confirmed by an attorney.

The main reason why an attorney is not needed in a consumer bankruptcy case is because bankruptcy is largely an administrative process, not a legal one. Unlike other court cases, there are no plaintiffs and no defendants. It is like getting a drivers license. Even though there are traffic courts and traffic judges, you do not have to deal with them in order to get a driver's license or to drive your car in traffic.

When you file bankruptcy you are not suing anyone and no one is suing you. To underscore this point, even though a judge is assigned to your bankruptcy case, you will almost never have to appear before him or her or even have the judge handle your bankruptcy behind the scenes. The judge is there just in case there is a dispute between you and a creditor. Interestingly enough, the law bars judges from being present at the trustee hearing.

If you were to hire a bankruptcy attorney for a typical consumer bankruptcy filing, your biggest surprise when it is over would be that you did not need one in the first place. In fact, most people who hire an attorney for bankruptcy report that after it is over, they feel very angry that they wasted their money on an attorney when they did not need one. They feel that their fear was exploited by the attorney who should have known better than to have charged them so much for so little.

Since there is no plaintiff or defendant and since you are not being sued, an attorney cannot represent you in a bankruptcy case. That is right! An attorney cannot represent you in front of the judge because you do not appear in front of a judge. And an attorattorneyney cannot represent you at the 341(a) trustee hearing because it is an administrative hearing, not a judicial one.

"I have had my meeting of the creditors, everything seems to be going smoothly. We did not have to amend any of our forms!! Suprisingly[sic] almost all of the people with lawyers did! Now I am looking for the information for the {...} help us get the bankruptcy removed sooner. Can you help? - Wyatt R., Tampa, FL

Because you cannot be represented by an attorney at the trustee hearing, you must make a personal appearance and answer the trustee questions by yourself. You cannot stay at home while the attorney goes to the hearing in your stead. An attorney can go to the hearing with you to advice you and to hold your hand, but by law the attorney is not allowed to nswer the trustee questions for you.

"Last week was my 341 trustee meeting and everything went smoothly as you said. They asked a couple of questions and just like that, it was over. I don't think it lasted more than a minute. Mine seemed to go better that some of the people who had lawyers. Many of them had to come back again but not me. I am glad I did not use a lawyer. I must have saved at least one grand." Raoul J, Chula Lista, CA

So what do you really get when you hire a bankruptcy attorney for the hearing? (a) You get the attorney to tell you what you already heard from other sources; (b) the attorney has his paralegal type the bankruptcy forms, and (c) in big cities, the attorney hires an appearance attorney to show up at the trustee hearing.

What is an appearance attorney? Because your attorney knows that he or she will not be allowed to speak for you at the hearing, they hire an attorney who does nothing but stay at the hearing room all day long, standing in for multiple attys.

So, while you are at the hearing waiting your turn, you will see the appearance attorney stand up with one person after another. When it is your turn, that same appearance attorney might stand up with you and say something like, "Your honor, I am Jon Doe, standing in for attorney Jane Doe." Most of the time, that is all they can say.

Appearance attys usually get paid $50 to $100 for each appearance and that is good money considering that the hearing lasts less than 5 minutes. We are all too familiar with this, having arranged for and coordinated the schedules for appearance attys who served some of the bankruptcy attys we used to support.

So here is the math:

attys are most valuable when there are serious legal issues such as for a corporate business. In such cases, they do what they are best at, which is legal consultation, not typing a list of bills. This is why most persons do not need an attorney in court.

If you need to talk to an attorney though, you can.

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^[1] We do not recieve any compensation from them. If you decide to use any of the attys or other third parties we provide you access to, we are not in any way responsible for the outcome of your dealing with them. Since we have no control of these professionals, any third party price estimates on this site are based on past third party representations and do not constitute a representation by us that you will get the same prices.