The Court charges a $299.00 filing fee which has to be paid when your petition is filed. There are several small charges such as the cost of the credit counseling and financial management courses one needs to complete, a Pacer search and so forth. Typically these add about $80 to the overall cost. After the bankruptcy laws changed, the amount of paperwork and responsibility of attorneys increased significantly and attorney’s fees increased to cover this. A good, caring attorney will do more than simply the minimum to get your case filed and through the process as quickly and cost-efficiently as possible. Most people who file for bankruptcy relief don’t really want to file and want to review all options. An attorney who tries to help a client get the best possible result and approach the future with a sensible outlook and plan needs to take the time to ask the right questions and explore issues to truly get a feel for how bet to advise someone. Most people have a number of concerns when considering bankruptcy and want to feel comfortable that they are making the right decision. In some instances, initially one may appear not to qualify for Chapter 7 relief, but after careful probing and creative thinking a solution that meets the client’s needs may be developed. You need to decide if your priority is to find the cheapest attorney in town or to find someone you feel confident will try to help you decide and do what is best for you. Logically, every case is different, and an attorney cannot fairly know what a fair fee for your case will be until the attorney has had an opportunity to evaluate all the relevant facts and issues. Bear in mind that the bankruptcy court monitors attorneys’ fees and will not approve an excessive fee. A number of people have used non-attorney petition preparers. The fraud and problems caused to debtors who were taken advantage of by many such petition preparers gave momentum to the changes in the bankruptcy law and have been the subject of prosecution. Non-attorney petition preparers are not allowed to give any legal advice nor do they have the knowledge or the experience to identify issues and figure out solutions. Need one say more?

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