If you are reading this page, then you want answers to help you solve your financial problems. If you do not have the money to pay off your creditors and do not have a pool of money somewhere to hire me to try to settle your debts for you at 30-60% of what you owe, then you want answers about how bankruptcy can help you.

First off, bankruptcy is not a moral issue. One hundred fifty years ago when you were bankrupting out the vendor down the street, then yes it was a bad thing. But now in modern times, bankruptcy is a business decision. The banks build into their profit forecasts a certain dollar amount for losses from bankruptcy and bad debts. You are nothing more than an account number and a loss ratio which they already accounted for elsewhere by charging garbage fees and higher interest rates to everyone else. So forget about moral issues and evaluate your situation for what it really is and that is as either an individual or family business decision. Once you get over that hurdle, then you can make a sound and wise decision about what to do.

There are two kinds of bankruptcy for consumers and small businesses and those are chapters 7 and 13. Chapter 11 is for wealthier individuals and big business so I am not going to cover chapter 11 issues here.

Chapter 7 is straight bankruptcy where you file a petition with the bankruptcy court asking to be relieved of the burden of all of your unsecured debts such as medical bills, credit cards, collection accounts, civil judgments, vehicle repossessions and so on. If these kinds of debts are what you have, then you want to file chapter 7. To read more about chapter 7, please go to the chapter 7 page.

Chapter 13 is often referred to as a debt consolidation that you force upon your creditors but I prefer to look at it as a consumer reorganization where you decide what to do with certain debts like vehicle loans, second mortgages, missed payments on your first mortgage, back income taxes and of course your unsecured consumer debts listed above. To learn more about chapter 13, please go to the chapter 13 page.

HOW MUCH DOES IT COST?

While I talk about my pricing structure, let me share three of the gimmicks out there that are designed to manipulate you into going to see a particular attorney.

1. “$100 down starts your case!” BIG DEAL! Give me $100 and I will open a file for you too but nothing really gets done for you until you pay most or all of the money. They do not do anything to try to slow down the creditors. I will  slow down the creditors for you but it requires a $500 deposit which is good towards payment of the total attorney fee for six months. What that gets you is letters of representation written and signed by me that are sent out to all the creditors that you want to receive them. When the creditors receive the letter, they can no longer have any contact with you except through me and that means that it shuts down all the phone calls and nasty letters. If they continue then you may sue them for violating the Federal Fair Debt Collections Practices Act and be awarded damages per each contact and that often adds up to a nice pay day. However, if someone is actually suing you, then letters do not work. You will need to either file the bankruptcy immediately which shuts that lawsuit down permanently or else file an answer in state court to stop them from getting a judgment against you and then shortly thereafter garnish your wages or levy on your bank account.

2. “Payment Plans Available”. SO WHAT! Most of my clients do not have all the money to pay my fee and the court costs when they first come to see me. If they did, they probably would not be needing to file bankruptcy. My clients can take as long as they want to pay me but I can not ethically file their case until I receive all my money. To do otherwise is a big no-no with the United States Trustee because if the client owes me money after the case is filed, then I am a creditor of theirs and therein creates a conflict of interest. How can I be a creditor against them and an attorney for them? Just so you know, if an attorney is dumb enough to do that, do not pay them after the case is filed because you are not legally required to pay them anything once the case is filed.

3. “We are the biggest filers of Bankruptcy cases in San Diego!” OH NO! If you want to be herded through an awful lawyer mill where you see the lawyer to get sold and never see him again, then the big mill is for you. You will deal with sales staffs, underpaid and overworked legal assistants, and will be attended to at court by either a young inexperienced lawyer or a contract attorney making some extra money by covering their appearances for them. You will never know who actually is your attorney because there isn’t one and if there was one he or she does not have time to talk to you. Your attorney fee goes to pay for their monstrous advertising budget and not to providing adequate attorney and legal assistant staffing.  In my office, I am the attorney of record, I am the attorney you talk to and I am the attorney that represents you in court and with all your creditors. My legal assistants do the tasks that I delegate them to do to help me prepare and manage the case and nothing more than that. They do not give legal advice which happens all the time in the mills. I am the one with twenty years experience as a bankruptcy lawyer and I will answer all your calls and give you the advice you need.

My Pricing Structure:

1. Court Costs: Chapter 7 filing fee is $299.00, chapter 13 is $274. The credit report cost is $30 per individual, $50 per couple and I do not mark that up, you pay what I pay for that. Pre-filing credit counseling class is $25 for both an individual and for a couple as well. Post filing credit management class is also $25.

2. Attorney fees:

Chapter 13 attorney fees are set by the Bankruptcy Court! Non business or non self employed cases are $3,300.00, business and self employed cases are $4,000.00. However, I do not require all of that prior to filing because in a chapter 13 case the attorney can receive payments out of the debt consolidation payment that you make each month to the United States Trustee to pay your creditors. So I work with my clients on what they can reasonably do and go from there.

Chapter 7 attorney fees: My range is anywhere from $1,000.00 to $2,900.00 depending upon what is involved. My base fee is generally $2,000.00 which I then apply discounts to for all my clients based upon what the case looks like. My average fee is around $1,500.00 and that seems to be very competitive as compared to the other really competent and experienced attorneys that I routinely practice with.

For Your Free Consultation Call (858) 278-2800

Multiple Locations in San Diego County

Chapter 7 Bankruptcy

Chapter 13 Debt Consolidation

Attorney Steven F. Bliss is a debt relief agency under the U.S. Bankruptcy Code.