Bankruptcy law obviously involves when your personal or business assets are insufficient to pay your bills. There are several types of Bankruptcy: Chapter 7 Bankruptcy is available to individuals below a certain income level whose debts exceed their ability to pay them back. Chapter 7 Bankruptcy is also available for liquidating businesses. Chapter 13 Bankruptcy involves reorganizing debts so that at least some of these debts can be repaid over time. This is available for individuals who do not wish to utilize Chapter 7, or for those whose income is too high to utilize Chapter 7. Chapter 11 is for business debt reorganization and is the business equivalent of Chapter 13. |
| Questions to Ask and Information to Obtain About your Prospective Attorney: |
| How long have you been handling bankruptcies? This is a specialized field. Experience is important. |
| How much experience do you have in the type of bankruptcy I am pursuing? For instance, some specialize in personal bankruptcy v. business bankruptcy. |
| How many bankruptcies have you filed per year in the last few years? If it is just one or a few then they may not dedicate a large amount of their time to this field. This may be fine for a straight forward Chapter 7 personal bankruptcy, but may be an issue if it is a more complicated Chapter 11 business reorganization. |
| Do you serve on any bar committees or other organizations involved in bankruptcy law? This is not essential, but if they do you can be assured that bankruptcy law is an important part of their practice. |
| How much will it cost? Most bankruptcy attorneys charge a flat fee but others charge by the hour. You also need to know how much you will need to pay up front. Some will require the entire fee up front. |
| What are my options other than bankruptcy? You should always ask this question, although most attorneys will address this with you even if you don't. Filing bankruptcy is a serious step to take that will adversely affect your credit for years to come. You need to carefully weigh your options before taking it and your attorney should be familiar with alternatives to consider. |
| Have you ever been disciplined? Attorneys are strictly regulated by the State of New York through the Attorney Grievance Committee of each of the four Appellate Divisions. It is completely appropriate to ask if an attorney has ever been disciplined and if so for what. |
| Do you have malpractice insurance? Attorneys make mistakes because they are human like everyone else. Most but not all attorneys carry insurance to protect clients from the effects of any mistakes that are made. You should hire one that provides this protection. |
How to Choose A lawyer
Friday, February 29, 2008
Lawyer specialty 1 "Bankruptcy Lawyers"
Do you know the type of attorney you need?
Just like in engineering, there are general attorneys (similar to civil engineering, electrical engineering, electromechanical engineering,... etc) who perform a wide range of different legal services. Then there are attorneys who act more as specialists in different fields of the law. For many general legal services such as residential real estate transactions, simple wills, health care proxies and living wills and other day to day legal issues, general practice lawyers are likely to provide you with the best service at the most reasonable price. If you have a litigation matter, a patent matter, a large personal estate to pass on to your loved ones or a complex commercial transaction, then you likely to need someone who works primarily in that specific area of law. or if you made a truck accident and you want to take your money from the insurance company to the last penny you have to look after a specialized lawyer in that area
Purpose of this Blog
How To Choose A Lawyer serves as an unbiased resource to the public when the need arises to retain an attorney for different types of legal matters. This website provides guidance on ways to find a lawyer and choosing the right lawyer for your legal matter especially truck accident lawyers. General information has been provided about attorney fees and legal costs, as well as your rights as a client. The intent is to provide the public with information about attorneys in general and questions to ask of the attorneys being considered for a legal matter as well as links to other potentially helpful sites.
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