Do i really need my Maple Grove MN Bankruptcy Attorneys? As someone who used to work with low income clients at a non-profit, I came across this question a lot. With the rise of "do it yourself legal”, online more and more people think about this question when they are looking to get divorced, write a will and even file bankruptcy. When someone chooses to go forward without hiring an attorney, they are called “pro se.” However, bankruptcy is different from other areas of law in a lot of respects, it has its own court system and its own set of laws. This makes even attorneys that practice in other areas of law leery of stepping foot into bankruptcy court.
When someone is thinking about filling bankruptcy many factors go into determining if bankruptcy is the right option given their specific set of circumstances. Your Bankruptcy Attorneys in Maple Grove, MN are qualified to determine if based on your debt load, their income, and what assets you have, if bankruptcy can provide them the most relief. If bankruptcy is the right option, then the lawyer can determine what bankruptcy is right for you. For consumers, there are two available bankruptcies. Chapter 7 Bankruptcy and Chapter 13 Bankruptcy. There are many factors that determine which bankruptcy is the right fit. It takes years of experience to know if you will be better helped by filing a Chapter 7 or a Chapter 13.
Tell ME About The Bankruptcy Petition
If you talk to any Maple Grove Bankruptcy Attorney they will tell you bankruptcy is a document intensive practice. What does that mean? It means there is a lot of paperwork that gets filed with the court. A LOT! When you file bankruptcy you file something called the petition and schedules with the court. The petition and schedules are usually around 50-75 pages. Yes, that many pages! To think about a person doing the petition and schedules by themselves makes my head spin. All of your Maple Grove MN Bankruptcy Attorneys have specialized software to assist them in preparing the petition and schedules. This is because not even qualified bankruptcy attorneys want to prepare these documents in the same way a pro se client would, by hand,
How About The Content
What goes into the bankruptcy petition and schedule is very detailed information. The most important thing that goes into your bankruptcy filing is the laws you choose to use. This is especially complex in the state of Minnesota. The reason this is more complex than in other states is because in Minnesota you have a choice of what laws you want to follow. You can file bankruptcy under federal exemption laws or you can file under Minnesota exemption laws. There are advantages and disadvantages for both. It takes an attorney to determine what set of laws would be best for your situation.
The exemption laws are there to protect your assets. The exemptions laws are very specific and have to be used correctly or you can lose your assets. I’ve seen many pro se clients get confused on exemption laws and use them incorrectly. In fact, I’ve never seen a pro se client get the exemption laws correct. And when they are not correct, they cause a lot of issues, including losing assets and having your case dismissed. It’s not worth trying to save on hiring an attorney, only to have the court takes assets away from you because your paperwork was not correct, and they could have been protected if you would have hired an attorney.
What About Meeting of Creditors
Many people think that you don’t have to go to court when you file bankruptcy. That you just file the paperwork and that is that. Everyone that files bankruptcy attends a meeting at the federal courthouse. This meeting is to determine if everything is true and correct and if there are any issues with your petition and schedules. Pro se clients can be treated differently than clients who have an attorney at these meetings. The person conducting the meeting is called the trustee. The trustee has back to back meetings for hours at a time. Pro se clients cam slow the meetings down because there are inevitably issues in their cases, the exemption laws are wrong, the paperwork is incomplete, additional paperwork was not brought to the meeting. This all leads to frustration on the part of the trustee, and stress on the part of the client.
When you have the Kain & Scott Bankruptcy Law Firm in Maple Grove, MN on your side you will be prepped for your meeting of creditors. Everything will have been submitted correctly the first time to the court. If there are issues with anything in your petition and schedules, the trustee asks your attorney to amend, not you. You will have heard the questions the trustee will ask you a head of time when you sat down with your attorney to go over details of what the meeting will look like. You will know how to answer the trustee’s questions, and what the trustee is looking for.
It is very common for pro se clients to have to attend more than one meeting of creditors. Which means two trips to the federal courthouse, parking costs, time off work and the stress of not understanding what the trustee may be asking you or seeking from your paperwork. The trustee will request a second meeting of creditors if paperwork is incomplete, missing or there are additional questions the trustee wants answered. It is very rare to have a second meeting of creditors when you have the Maple Grove MN Bankruptcy Attorneys. The only reason it would happen with an attorney is if you didn’t provide your attorney with the necessary paperwork such as your paystubs, your tax return etc.
Hiring A Bankruptcy Attorney Saves You Time, MOney & Stress.
Let your Maple Grove MN Bankruptcy Attorneys do the work for you. You don’t need to study and understand the bankruptcy laws, worry about your meeting of creditors and hope you don’t have amend your petition and schedules because they were filled out incorrectly. Your attorney is available to answer your questions throughout the bankruptcy process, and you will have questions! Questions that only your bankruptcy attorney can answer, not Google.
