Bankruptcy - Bankruptcy Myths
An experienced personal injury lawyer protects your rights in and out of court. Since most cases are settled far before court, you may think you can forgo a lawyer and just take a cash settlement. True, you might avoid paying a lawyer fee, but you rarely will get the full amount you might have gotten. And that's saying that the offer is even made without a lawyer. They may take you to court instead. In chapter 7 bankruptcy , a lawyer is essential.
Once you gather your information, you want weigh the costs versus the services. Each lawyer charges for different things. Some charge by the minute; some charge by 8th of the hour. You want to know if the lawyer charges for postage or hand-delivering documents. Do not forget that this is additional to the court fees. You want a lawyer who you feel comfortable with, who listens to your needs, and communicates well. Remember this person needs to represents your interests to the best of his or her ability. The cost he or she charges does not accurately reflect the service you are going to receive. For example, you can go with the biggest named law firm and have the worse lawyer on your team.
Look for someone open to a fixed fee arrangement. No one I know wants to retain a lawyer not knowing what the final bill will be. While this is often difficult for a lawyer to estimate, he (she) may be open to a flexible or fixed fee arrangement. And he (she) should be able to give you at least a good idea on the fees.
bankruptcy isn't a magic solution that clears away all of your problems. Your debt isn't always cleared and your debtors may take some of your property. Bankruptcy should be avoided, and with some diligence, it can be. When you avoid boy scouts bankruptcy you are saving what is left of your credit history and your sanity.
Personally, I have had legal insurance for more than 12 years and it has empowered me to stick up for rights that I would otherwise never have known existed. I have dealt with all of the above-mentioned issues with the confidence of knowing I had an attorney on call 24/7 all for less than $1/day. In fact, after two frivolous lawsuits I calculated it would have cost me in excess of $74,000 to defend myself. My insurance paid for everything. Not to mention the savings I have accumulated keeping my car insurance costs down by being able to fight against traffic tickets.
It will not cost you more if you fire your lawyer and hire another one. You will only pay one attorney fee. When your personal injury case resolves, the one attorney fee is then divided between the law firms that represented you, based on "quantum meruit," i.e., the reasonable value of their services, or in other words, how much work each firm did. If the second attorney did the most work, he'll get the biggest chunk of the attorney's fees. If the two firms did about the same amount of work, they will divide the fee equally. How the fee is divided up need not be your concern. The law firms work that out after your case is resolved.