Phoenix Bankruptcy Legal Fees: What Does a Phoenix Bankruptcy Lawyer Charge?

Occasionally, I find the time to look over the keywords that bring clients to my website. Here are a few that stood out to me:

1. Cheap Phoenix Bankruptcy Lawyer
2. Affordable Attorney Arizona Bankruptcy
3. Best Phoenix Bankruptcy Lawyer
4. Top Arizona Bankruptcy Lawyer
5. Gilbert Car Rental (huh?)

Does anything jump out at you? As a bankruptcy lawyer, I am constantly trying to meet the needs of my clients – something that it not always easy because every client is unique. What jumped out at me was the fact that not everybody wants the same thing out of their attorney.

Are you looking for legal advice regarding a Phoenix bankruptcy? Do you want a cheap bankruptcy lawyer? A fast bankruptcy lawyer? The best bankruptcy attorney in Arizona? See what I mean?

The problem that I see is that bankruptcy lawyers have a tendency to charge flat fees, as opposed to billing hourly. Now let me just say that I am not a fan of the billable hour – I think too many law firms inadvertently abuse these system (yes, I was once sent a bill by an attorney that will remain unnamed for a friendly conversation about the Cardinals – I hung it on my fridge).

However, in a flat fee system I find clients are often unclear about what services are included in their fee structure. This is for good reason – most debtors are bankruptcy virgins. They are not familiar enough with the process to know what is considered standard, and to anticipate what additional legal work may be needed.

So, I want to take a few minutes today to talk about how I bill clients for an Arizona bankruptcy legal fees.

First, let me mention bankruptcy court and credit class fees. There are fees associated with filing for bankruptcy that are in addition to what your bankruptcy lawyer charges in legal fees. To file your petition, there is an approximately $300 fee that is paid to the court – this pays for the processing of your case through the court.

In addition, any changes to your bankruptcy petition after it has been filed result in an amendment fee that is paid to the court. This fee covers the processing of these payments and includes adding missing creditors, making amendments to your petition or adjusting for missed plan payments.

Hopefully you know that, if you want to file for bankruptcy protection, you need to take both pre and post-filing consumer credit counseling courses. There are fees of approximately $100 associated with these courses that are paid to the counseling company for enrollment in their courses. Note that these classes are required – you will receive a fun little diploma that your attorney must file with the courts.

Now let’s talk about Bankruptcy Attorney’s fees. As I mentioned earlier, most bankruptcy attorneys will charge a flat rate fee for their chapter 7 bankruptcy services. However, a flat-fee does not mean that you have purchased unlimited legal services for this and other issues.

Think about it this way – an average lawyer will charge somewhere around $250/hour for their services. If I were to charge hourly for bankruptcy representation, typical bankruptcy fees would only amount to approximately 4 hours of service. With many clients this would be exhausted with correspondence alone.

So believe me when I say you are getting a good deal, at least as far as attorneys go. That being said, some people get pretty bent out of shape when I explain that there fees paid are not all encompassing. So in the nature of transparency, I want to explain some of these situations below.

For example, I am currently advertising $999 bankruptcy fees for chapter 7 bankruptcy preparation and representation. For this price, I will review your financial situation, prepare and file your bankruptcy petition, handle creditor phone calls, attend your 341 hearing and keep your notified of your petition status until discharge.

However, there are things that arise that are not included in your bankruptcy flat fee. Here are a few examples below:

1. Amendments: Changes to your petition require amendments and, in addition to the fees charged by the court, I will likely charge an additional fee because it requires additional paperwork on my part.
2. Additional hearings: If you miss your hearing, or forget to bring the proper identification, I may charge a fee for the additional time a second hearing requires. The same goes for those individuals that forget to submit requested documents to their trustee. (This is another reason to watch for your trustee letter!)
3. Response to lawsuits: Your flat fee does not include responses to any lawsuits you are currently involved with. I am more than happy to assist you with these additional legal services, but I will charge you hourly to for them. However, in many cases I will tell you to simply ignore them as personal liability will be discharged in your bankruptcy.
4. Additional Paperwork or motions not required in every case: this can include lien stripping, lien avoidance, petitions for reinstatement.
5. Note that this list is not inclusive, but instead I presented it here to give you all a general understanding of what I am blabbering about.

I hope that I haven’t stepped on any toes here, and that the transparency of my fee structure is appreciated. Also realize that I will never spring these fees on you out of nowhere – believe me, I know better than that. Instead, they are described on every client-contract I sign. (However, I know how most people feel about fine print.)