Legal fees are based the amount of work to be done. A Chapter 7 case that requires one Court appearance costs less than a Chapter 13, which requires several Court appearances. If your income is higher than the "median amount, more legal work is required because the "long form" Means Test must be completed. The fee is also higher when a Husband and Wife file together than for a single person.

The Bankruptcy Court requires payment of a filing fee. The filing fee is in addition to the legal fee. The attorney collects this fee from you and pays the Bankruptcy Court when your case is filed.

While many high volume law firms offer a "free consultation," at "A Fresh Start," we feel that the "free consultation" is simply attorney-speak for a high pressure sales pitch. During a "free consultation," you might get answers to a few of your questions. But the answers will not be specific. The emphasis will be on giving you information about the legal fees and the payment terms.

When attorneys offer "free consultations," they must somehow make up for the people who clearly don’t qualify to file Bankruptcy or who don't come back because they don’t like the way the attorney or the support staff treats them. The obvious answer is that they make up their lost time by charging you more!

Do you want to take off work and drive across town to spend 10 minutes to just meet an attorney and get a price quote? Be realistic - you will accomplish very little in a free consultation and we will give you the same information by email or over the phone!

We answer the same type of general questions that would be covered in a "free consultation" on this web site by email, or over the phone. No one can provide specific advice without a review all of the details of your financial situation.

Go to our preferred online agency for pre-bankruptcy counseling at  www.cricketdebt.com. If you use our access code when you register, the credit counseling is free. (Click here to obtain the access code by E-mail)

You can qualify if:

The big difference between Chapter 7 and Chapter 13 is the kind of help you need and what you can afford.

You must wait 8 years after filing any completed Bankruptcy to file a Chapter 7 Bankruptcy. However, you may file a Chapter 13 case at anytime and you still may be able to pay less than 100% of your debt.

This office is available to prepare an emergency Bankruptcy case in 48 hours or less, sometimes much less if there is a true emergency. But in order to prepare your Bankruptcy, you must provide all the documents we need, complete our 4 page questionnaire and verify that we have a complete list of all your creditors.

It depends. While there is no hard and fast rule as to how long any Chapter 7 Bankruptcy case can stay open, your case could be completed as soon as 90 days after your Trustee Meeting. Since the Trustee Meeting is held about one month after your case is filed, it could be over in less than four months. But if you fail to cooperate with Trustee or ignore your attorney's instructions, your case could remain open indefinitely. Other issues may occur to delay the completion of your case, but this is unusual.

We believe your case deserves personal attention from everyone working on your case. When you retain A Fresh Start, you will meet with Dorothy, your attorney, personally and spend at least one hour going over your case. During that time, you can ask all questions pertaining to your Bankruptcy case. You may be surprised to find that Dorothy may anticipate your questions before you ask them and will raise issues that you have not considered. Before we send you your Official Bankruptcy paperwork, Dorothy has reviewed it and will advise you on any possible problems.

If you have a garnishment or lawsuit pending, we immediately contact all appropriate parties to stop the garnishment and prevent any future garnishments once your case is filed.

If you have a foreclosure pending, we immediately contact all appropriate parties to stop the foreclosure once your case is filed. If you intend to keep your home, the attorney will work with you to formulate a Plan to allow you to catch up on your back payments.

I understand you can just fill out pre-printed forms and save lots of money.

You can certainly file your own Bankruptcy petition, but the new laws make the bankruptcy process far more complicated than simply filling in the blanks on pre-printed forms.

The Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act of 2005 changed Bankruptcy, making it far more complicated. These changes include: