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Bankruptcy law obviously involves when your personal or business assets are insufficient to pay your bills. There are several types of Bankruptcy: Chapter 7 Bankruptcy is available to individuals below a certain income level whose debts exceed their ability to pay them back. Chapter 7 Bankruptcy is also available for liquidating businesses. Chapter 13 Bankruptcy involves reorganizing debts so that at least some of these debts can be repaid over time. This is available for individuals who do not wish to utilize Chapter 7, or for those whose income is too high to utilize Chapter 7. Chapter 11 is for business debt reorganization and is the business equivalent of Chapter 13. |
| Questions
to Ask and Information to Obtain About your Prospective Attorney: |
How
long have you been handling bankruptcies?
This is a specialized field. Experience is important. |
| How
much experience do you have in the type of bankruptcy I am pursuing?
For instance, some specialize in personal bankruptcy v. business
bankruptcy. |
| How
many bankruptcies have you filed per year in the last few years?
If it is just one or a few then they may not dedicate a large
amount of their time to this field. This may be fine for
a straight forward Chapter 7 personal bankruptcy, but may be
an issue if it is a more complicated Chapter 11 business reorganization. |
| Do
you serve on any bar committees or other organizations involved
in bankruptcy law? This
is not essential, but if they do you can be assured that bankruptcy
law is an important part of their practice. |
| How
much will it cost? Most
bankruptcy attorneys charge a flat fee but others charge by
the hour. You also need to know how much you will need
to pay up front. Some will require the entire fee up front. |
| What
are my options other than bankruptcy?
You should always ask this question, although most attorneys
will address this with you even if you don't. Filing bankruptcy
is a serious step to take that will adversely affect your credit
for years to come. You need to carefully weigh your options
before taking it and your attorney should be familiar with alternatives
to consider. |
| Have
you ever been disciplined? Attorneys are strictly
regulated by the State of New York through the Attorney Grievance
Committee of each of the four Appellate Divisions. It
is completely appropriate to ask if an attorney has ever been
disciplined and if so for what. |
| Do
you have malpractice insurance? Attorneys make
mistakes because they are human like everyone else. Most
but not all attorneys carry insurance to protect clients from
the effects of any mistakes that are made. You should
hire one that provides this protection. |
