Make sure you arrive on time for your meeting with your lawyer. You should also bring a pen and a notebook with you so that you may jot down whatever you and your lawyer discuss. Take the time to listen to your lawyer and inform them if you donât understand what theyâre saying.
To avoid interruptions, be sure to turn off all cell phones or other electronic devices just before your appointment. Following these tips will help ensure that you have a productive first meeting with the attorney and start a good working relationship should you decide to hire him or her.
Sometimes, a lawyer may also try to speed the information gathering process by sending you a questionnaire to fill out in advance of any meeting. If this happens, be sure to fill out the questionnaire and send it in to the lawyer's office beforehand, so that the lawyer doesn't have to review it wmhile you sit there.
In addition to learning about you and hearing your narrative, your lawyer will also want to see documents and evidence, both for informational purposes and to help assess the strength of your case. Regardless of the type of legal matter, your lawyer will want to know who you are and how to contact you.
Give the lawyer the copies at the beginning of the initial consultation. Prudent attorneys do not accept original documents, and you do not want to waste precious time or money waiting while the attorney makes copies. So fax the documents to the law office before the meeting.
Chapter 13 Bankruptcy Do's and Don'tsBe Patient. ... Take a Credit Counseling Course. ... Keep Track of Financial Documents. ... Don't Make Payments or Property Transfers to Family or Friends. ... Don't Try to Hide Assets. ... Don't Sell Any Property Without Court Approval. ... Don't Use Credit While You're in A Chapter 13 Case.More items...â˘
Success Rate for Chapter 13 Bankruptcy The ABI study for 2019, found that of the 283,313 cases filed under Chapter 13, only 114,624 were discharged (i.e. granted), and 168,689 were dismissed (i.e. denied). That's a success rate of just 40.4%.
The simplest answer is âyes, you can move after filing for bankruptcy,â and many people actually do move, especially if they are job hunting and their lack of income was one of the reasons they chose to file.
about $500 to $600 per monthThe average payment for a Chapter 13 case overall is probably about $500 to $600 per month. This information, however, may not be very helpful for your particular situation. It takes into account a large number of low payment amounts where low income debtors are paying very little back.
Either way, once you get your discharge in a Chapter 7 bankruptcy or a Chapter 13 bankruptcy, you will get credit again and be able to increase your score. Lenders will look at your credit histories such as on-time payments and debt to income ratio to determine if they should extend credit to you.
Does Chapter 13 Trustee Check Your Bank Account? Yes, it's highly likely that your appointed trustee will check both your personal bank accounts and any business-related bank accounts which you may have under your name.
If Your Income Improves If the improvement in your income is 10 percent or more, you are obliged to contact your bankruptcy trustee and inform him of your change in circumstances. Below that amount, and you can save or spend the extra disposable income without informing the trustee.
An Increase in Income During Chapter 13 You can use Chapter 13 to retain some of your assets, but discharge all or a lot of your debts. The court will give you three to five years to pay your debts on a set schedule rather than the original rate determined.
Before you get too far into a meeting or conversation, the lawyer will want to know about any possible conflicts of interest that might prevent him or her from ethically representing you.
In addition to learning about you and hearing your narrative, your lawyer will also want to see documents and evidence, both for informational purposes and to help assess the strength of your case. Obviously, the nature of the evidence will vary dramatically from one type of case to another. As you prepare to meet with your lawyer, try ...
In short, preparation for your first consultation meeting is critical. Strong preparation will save time and money. It will also ensure that all of your questions are answered, and that your attorney has all the information needed in order to effectively represent you.
Typical goals might include: review and provide comments on a contract or legal document. draft a will.
Some important details to include in that narrative include: names of the key players in your dispute. date the dispute or problem began. type of the dispute (harassment, contract, divorce) key events of your dispute, including a "who, what, where, when and why" narrative, and. current status of your dispute.
respond to a legal complaint, lawsuit, or threatening letter. research whether you have a meritorious legal claim against another person or entity. draft a legal complaint or demand letter to another person or entity, or. negotiate a lease, contract, or other agreement.
contracts (such as employment agreements , leases, promissory notes, and the like) financial documents (for example, if you'll be drafting a will or starting a company) correspondence (letters, emails, or text messages between you and the other party or otherwise relevant to your dispute)
All attorneys meet with prospective clients in what is called an initial consultation. This is a first meeting between you and the lawyer to help you both decide whether you want to work together in an attorney-client relationship. At this point, you are both checking each other out, and getting information and advice that can help you with your case regardless of whether you hire that lawyer or any other one.
Even if you have no court papers yet, you may have on hand or could readily obtain documents that could be helpful.
Make a set of copies of everything that you plan to share with the lawyer. Give the lawyer the copies at the beginning of the initial consultation. Prudent attorneys do not accept original documents, and you do not want to waste precious time or money waiting while the attorney makes copies. So fax the documents to the law office before the meeting.
Remember, the attorney will keep this information confidential, unless required to share it with a court because it is relevant to the legal matter or with law enforcement for a public-safety reason. You may think the information is too trivial or embarrassing to mention, but it may well be extremely important, so share it.
It is usually in your best interest to meet with the attorney alone, even if the other person is paying for the appointment. Your friend (s) or loved one (s) can wait in the lobby. To avoid interruptions, be sure to turn off all cell phones or other electronic devices just before your appointment.
The most important, mandatory documents to bring to your initial bankruptcy consultation are a list of your outstanding debts and a list of your assets, focusing on major assets, such as houses, cars, boats, trailers, timeshares and the like.
If you are thinking of filing for bankruptcy, you are not alone. Lawyers can help you decided whether or not you even need to file a bankruptcy, but if you do, theyâll let you know which chapter would be most appropriate.
The first meeting with an attorney usually involves the exchange of a lot of information.
After you decide on which attorney to hire, youâll sign a fee agreement and officially begin your relationship with your lawyer. The first meeting with an attorney usually involves the exchange of a lot of information. You will spend a good deal of time explaining to the attorney the details of your legal issue and answering his or her questions. He or she will spend a good amount of time discussion and laying out a plan. If you think you might get nervous or forget something, you could practice this conversation with a friend, or you could write down what you want to say.
In addition to a general understanding of your legal needs, the lawyer may want to know who else is involved with the case and their relationship to you. For example, in some probate matters, a client visits the lawyer to seek help for his or her parents or siblings.
At the consultation, be prepared to talk about your case. The lawyer may not too many details of your case before you sign a fee agreement, but you should be prepared just in case.
Even if a lawyer doesn't ask for documentation beforehand, it's still a good idea to bring a copy of all relevant documents to the meeting. Spend some time thinking about what you may have on hand. Try to organize the documents in a logical manner before you meet with the lawyer.
To save money on legal fees, take the time to select a good lawyer, prepare well for your first meeting, and do everything you can to reduce the time that lawyer will have to spend on your case . Even eliminating one email exchange could save you hundreds of dollars.
Attorney consultations vary, depending on the attorneyâs preferences. Some lawyers charge for a consultation, others donât. Some will only hold consultations over the phone, but some will let you come in (this is best, so that you can get a better feel for the attorney).
The first category is when you are unhappy in your marriage, know very little about divorce, and want to gather some basic information so you can make educated decisions about preserving or ending your marriage.
Before your first meeting remember the 4Ps. Preparation prevents poor performance. As a matter of fact, remind yourself of the 4Ps throughout the divorce process. Before your first meeting, you need to prepare two documents if at all possible. One is simple biographical informationâ your full name, address, phone numbers, place of employment, ...
If you have decided to file a divorce, or your spouse has filed a divorce against you, your narrative needs to be more detailed â probably three to 10 pages . The next group of items that you will need to bring to your first meeting with you attorney is financial information.
You do not really know whether or not you are going to get divorced. You just want to know what your options are. The second category is when you have made the decision to end your marriage and you are meeting with your divorce attorney for the first time because you want to file a divorce.
First, define the meeting purpose, or the â Why â behind your meeting. Why are you meeting? Is it to brainstorm? Is it to have a discussion or plan the next steps? If you set one clear objective, itâll be much easier for you to design an agenda for your meeting.
Now that youâve set your meeting objectives and goals, itâs time to create a bulletproof agenda.
Send meeting invites to everyone involved in the meeting at least two weeks in advance so your colleagues have enough time to work it into their schedules.
Gathering input from the team members prior to the meeting works great with some meeting formats.
If thereâs material that you want your meeting participants to review before the meeting, or if thereâs something that you want your team to prepare, communicate it well in advance. You may, for instance, add it as an attachment to your meeting invite or share it in your internal comms channel.
Getting the slide deck ready is a drill you surely know very well, but here are a few tips that can make your life a little easier.
When designing a meeting, create multiple â interaction points â â the spots on the agenda where you purposefully create a space for your meeting participants to actively contribute.
Invest a little in meeting preparation and gain massively during and after your meeting. Preparation starts with an agenda to send to your team. The level of detail that goes into a meeting agenda matters. When you send a detailed meeting agenda to your team, people come prepared and the discussion in your meeting can be fruitful.
Using yoyomeetingâs easy-to-use agenda setting feature, you can create an informative agenda for your meeting in just a few steps. Furthermore, your agenda is the perfect foundation for taking live meeting notes, your context for the recorded decisions and the assigned tasks.
Team members can easily contribute to meeting agendas. With yoyomeeting, you can easily do so by inviting attendees to upload their content to the Office 365 meeting and contribute to the agenda items assigned to them.