Hiring a lawyer can be a worthwhile investment if you own property that you cannot exempt in your Chapter 7 bankruptcy in Maine. The average cost of a bankruptcy lawyer varies by state and ranges from $1,200 to $1,500 in Maine for typical cases. Not everyone who needs a lawyer for their Maine bankruptcy case can afford one.
A Chapter 7 case costs$338 to file. You can apply to pay the fee in up to four installments within 120 days of filing your bankruptcy case. The court will decide the minimum amount you need to pay. In Maine, you need to pay the filing fee with a bank check or a cashier's check.Feb 9, 2022
There are many ways to find an attorney to represent you if you're filing for bankruptcy. If you can get a referral from someone you know and trust, that's probably a good way to go. If not, consider looking into other resources, like legal aid, professional associations or your local bar association.Nov 25, 2020
Additional FeesChapter 7Chapter 13Attorney Fee$925$3700Filing Fee$335$310Credit Report$30$30Counseling Courses (2)$40$401 more row
between $1200-$1800Attorney Fees for Chapter 7 Bankruptcy For Chapter 7 bankruptcy, you can expect the attorney fees to range between $1200-$1800, depending on the specifics.
Lawyer is a general term referring to anyone who is qualified to give legal advice as a licensed legal practitioner. This includes solicitors and barristers. Solicitors provide legal support, advice and services to clients, who can be individuals, private companies, public sector organisations or other groups.
If your total monthly income over the course of the next 60 months is less than $7,475 then you pass the means test and may file for Chapter 7. If you are over $12,475 then you do not pass the means test and must instead consider Chapter 13 bankruptcy for debt relief.May 7, 2019
$338The filing fee for Chapter 7 is $338, while the filing fee for Chapter 13 is $313. The fees go up every couple of years. If you can't afford the filing fee, you can ask for a waiver or installment plan. If you're filing for Chapter 7 bankruptcy, you can apply for a fee waiver.Apr 23, 2021
The biggest difference between Chapter 7 and Chapter 13 is that Chapter 7 focuses on discharging (getting rid of) unsecured debt such as credit cards, personal loans and medical bills while Chapter 13 allows you to catch up on secured debts like your home or your car while also discharging unsecured debt.
The automatic stay is usually the first thing that happens in a bankruptcy. Debt discharge (debt forgiveness) is usually the last thing. This discharge usually applies to unsecured obligations, such as:
The Automatic Stay applies to creditors, but not the trustee. However, the trustee cannot touch your key assets, including:
Among other things, banks can legally foreclose on home loans after one missed payment. Making matters worse, during the 2010s, the Supreme Court and Consumer Financial Protection Bureau eliminated some key consumer debt protections. So, when it comes to debt collection, many creditors are more aggressive than ever. But there are safeguards in place to help individuals who file for bankruptcy. These include the automatic stay and the bankruptcy debt discharge.
The average cost of a bankruptcy lawyer varies by state and ranges from $1,200 to $1,500 in Maine for typical cases.
The Maine bankruptcy forms are a combination of the forms you bring to the court when you first file your Chapter 7 bankruptcy in Maine, and forms that may be needed later on in the case When you first file your case, you have to file this certification regarding your creditors' addresses along with all of the national bankruptcy forms.
Your trustee is the person randomly assigned by the court to administer your Chapter 7 bankruptcy in Maine. They are not court officials, but act as a kind of third-party administrator to ensure that you are eligible to receive a discharge and to see to it that your unsecured creditors receive the value of any non-exempt (unprotected) assets you may have. One part of the trustee's job is to review the information you provided to the IRS on your federal income tax returns. The Bankruptcy Code makes it your job to provide a copy of your most recent income tax return to your trustee at least a week before your creditors' meeting takes place. Since each of the bankruptcy trustees has their own system for doing their due diligence, you may receive a letter from your case trustee shortly after filing bankruptcy in Maine with a list of other documents or information they need from you. If you don't comply with this request in a timely manner, or fail to submit your tax return, the trustee can schedule a second (continued) meeting of creditors to make sure you follow through on providing it thereby inevitably delaying the entry of your discharge.
Bankruptcy course 2 is intended to provide you with tools for managing your finances after your Chapter 7 bankruptcy in Maine is over. Even if there is nothing you could have done differently to avoid filing bankruptcy, you have to take this course, as is a requirement for everyone filing bankruptcy in Maine.
The laws that designate certain property as protected so that creditors can't take it from you (no matter how much you owe them) are called exemption laws. Everyone who has lived in the Pine Tree State for at least two years when their Maine bankruptcy case is first filed with the court is able to use the Maine bankruptcy exemptions to protect their assets.
If you "fail" this part of the test, by making too much money, you may still be able to file a Chapter 7 bankruptcy in Maine if part 2 of the means test analysis determines that it would not be an abuse of the system for you to do so.
When you get your credit counseling ''certificate of completion,'' you must file for bankruptcy within 180 days (about 6 months).
After your case is successfully filed, the court clerk will assign a trustee to your case and set a meeting of creditors. At least 7 days before this initial meeting, you must send to the trustee:
To protect your privacy, you may black out all but the last four digits of your Social Security number and private account numbers, as well as names and birthdates of children (use initials only), that may appear on these documents.