Massachusetts Bankruptcy Lawyers Fees Explained
When you are ready to file your Chapter 7 or Chapter 13 Bankruptcy it is a good idea to contact several qualified bankruptcy lawyers and have them quote you their fees. Fees charged by lawyers can range in price and just because you are quoted a high fee it doesn’t mean that the lawyer is actually an experienced bankruptcy lawyer. Similarly, just because you are quoted a lower fee it doesn’t mean that your lawyer is inexperienced.
In order to evaluate a bankruptcy lawyers’ experience with filing bankruptcy cases, you should read as many on-line reviews of the lawyer as you can. The more and better the reviews the more comfortable you should feel that your lawyer has the bankruptcy experience that you need him/her to have, and the more smoothly your case will run. For example, you can read numerous reviews for our law firm’s bankruptcy lawyers at Google+ or at Yelp.
Once you have evaluated the level of experience for all of your potential bankruptcy lawyers, you can then return to evaluating their fee structure. Some lawyers charge an hourly rate and others charge a flat-fee. Our firm charges a flat-fee because we believe that our clients’ like to know exactly how much the entire bankruptcy proceeding is going to cost them before they agree to sign a fee agreement. If you were to agree to an hourly rate, there is always the possibility that your lawyer will have to spend many extra hours on your case, and it could wind up costing you 3 to 5 times as much as you originally expected; with a flat-fee you can completely avoid this risk.
Always make sure to ask your potential bankruptcy lawyers to explain all of their fees to you up-front. This is very important because many bankruptcy lawyers simply want to sign you as a client, so they will quote you only a portion of the fees so that you think you are getting a deal. Once you have signed as a client however they will suddenly contact you and “remind” you of Court filing fees, credit report fees and debt counseling course fees that they previously “forgot” to tell you about. Below is a list of the fees you will want to ask about:
1. Lawyers’ fee: cost for your bankruptcy lawyer to handle your case for you.
2. Bankruptcy Court filing fee: cost to file your case with the Court (standard fee set by Court).
3. Credit report fee: cost for your lawyer to obtain a copy of your credit report.
4. Debt counseling course fee: cost for you to take the two (2) Federally required courses.
Remember, it’s up to you to ask your potential bankruptcy lawyer all the important questions about fees. Check these links for information about our law firm’s Chapter 7 bankruptcy fees, Chapter 13 bankruptcy fees and Chapter 11 bankruptcy fees.