When you research Chapter 13 bankruptcy attorneys, you’ll see plenty of firms advertising how many cases they file. That sounds impressive. But the number that matters to you isn’t how many cases an attorney files. It’s how many they get confirmed.
Filing vs. Confirming
Filing a Chapter 13 case starts the process. It triggers the automatic stay, which stops foreclosures, repossessions, and garnishments for now. Filing alone doesn’t save your home or your car, though.
Confirmation is when the bankruptcy court approves your repayment plan. Until then, your protection isn’t secure. If your case is dismissed before confirmation, collections, foreclosures, and repossessions can resume, and you may have lost months of time, money, and momentum. Furthermore, you will have to pay for an expensive motion to continue the automatic stay in your next case. Filing and dismissing a Chapter 13 case is disfavored under the U.S. Bankruptcy Code, and it’s expensive to pay for a new case.
Why Confirmation Takes Real Work
Getting a plan confirmed takes careful work from your attorney:
• Preparing accurate schedules and a plan that actually fits your budget and meets every legal requirement
• Answering the Chapter 13 trustee’s document requests and objections
• Reviewing creditor claims, objecting to the ones that are wrong, and negotiating resolutions with your creditors
• Preparing you for, and attending, your meeting of creditors
• Amending the plan when circumstances change
It takes work from you, too:
• Starting plan payments on time, usually within 30 days of filing, even before confirmation
• Providing tax returns, pay stubs, and other documents promptly
• Filing any missing tax returns
• Staying in close contact with your attorney’s office
A good attorney guides you through every one of these steps. A case gets confirmed when attorney and client work as a team.
The Real Cost of “Cheap”
Low-cost, high-volume “bankruptcy mills” often make their money by filing as many cases as possible, then giving each one little attention. Petitions get filed with errors. Plans are built on numbers that don’t work. Trustee objections go unanswered. Clients can’t reach anyone who knows their file. These “bankruptcy mills” often get paid the same as a good attorney, but the mills don’t provide results.
The “Cost of Cheap” can be devastating:
• Dismissal. Your case ends, and creditors can pick up where they left off.
• Lost protection next time. If you file again within a year of a dismissal, the automatic stay may last only 30 days unless your attorney wins a motion to extend it. After two dismissals, you may get no automatic stay at all.
• Lost money. The fees and payments you put into a failed case are hard to recover.
• Lost time. Foreclosure deadlines don’t wait for a second try.
• Lost legal rights. You may lose important legal rights when a case is dismissed.
A low fee isn’t a bargain if your case never makes it to confirmation.
Questions to Ask Before You Hire
• Are you a California State Bar Certified Bankruptcy Specialist? (Certification requires an attorney to pass a special bar exam and take continuing education in the bankruptcy area of law).
• How long have you been handling chapter 13 cases?
• How many of your Chapter 13 cases reach confirmation?
• Are you able to provide a PACER report indicating how many cases you have confirmed? (proof)
• Who will prepare my plan and appear at my hearings?
• How do you handle trustee and creditor objections?
• How quickly will your office respond when I call?
The Bottom Line
Chapter 13 can save your home, protect your car, and give you a fresh start, but only if your plan is confirmed and completed. Choose an attorney who works for that result, not just for the filing.