CONTRACT
FOR LEGAL SERVICES
Chapter 7
The
undersigned client(s) agree to employ the law firm of Michael Barnett, PA to
represent them in a Chapter 7 bankruptcy proceeding. Other attorneys may assist the firm in
representation of your case. Clients
represent that they have read and understood the agreement as set forth
below. The contract is to be interpreted
under the laws of the State of
Fee
The client
agrees to pay an initial retainer of $________, in addition to the costs
described below prior to the filing of the
bankruptcy. The client should always
request a written receipt for all payments made to the office. When the questionnaire is returned, the
balance of the fee must be paid by money order, cash, or cashier's check. Any fees owed to this firm prior to entry of
this contract are hereby waived unless this case is a conversion from a prior
chapter 13, in which case allowed fees from the chapter 13, up to a total of
$1,500 in fees for the 7 and 13 combined, may be accepted from the refund due
on conversion.
The representation is limited to
representation in the general bankruptcy proceeding only, and continues only
until the discharge is entered in the case, or the case otherwise
terminates. The client should discuss
any state court lawsuits with the attorney during the initial conference, and
make written arrangements regarding the lawsuit at that time. If the client is suing anyone, or has the
right to sue anyone in state court, generally this suit or right to sue is an
asset in the bankruptcy, which the bankruptcy court may be able to take
over. Please discuss any suits with me
before the case is filed. The law office
will not be responsible for taking any action regarding state court lawsuits
absent a written agreement to the contrary.
If any adversary proceedings are filed by
the client, or against the client in the bankruptcy,
or any contested matters arise, such representation shall require additional
fees. If any dispute arises related to
accounting (for example with the IRS or balance due on mortgages), or
valuation, then the client shall be expected to retain a professional
accountant or appraisal to provide these services. If matters arise outside of
bankruptcy expertise, where there is extensive litigation regarding
nonbankruptcy issues, the client may be requested to employ counsel specializing
in such other areas.
Costs
The client
agrees to pay all court costs in this matter, including filing fees, court
reporter bills, postage costs, or charges for federal express or similar
services. The client shall pay the sum
of $299.00 as the filing fee in this
matter prior to the bankruptcy being filed.
All costs must be paid before the law office will make the related
expenditure or order any transcript.
The firm is
now filing all cases electronically, which requires the law firm to pay the
filing fee by debit or credit card.
While the client will pay us the fee by money order or cashier’s check,
the client recognizes that there may be some minor ‘premium’, such as frequent
flier miles, awarded to counsel or the
law firm from the credit card company based on the total monthly charges, and
consents to the firm retaining any such premium. This also applies to charges for ordering
credit reports.
Additional fees
The client
agrees to pay additional fees if the law office provides the following services
to the client. The client understands
that these additional services are not required in most cases and that none of
these fee will be incurred without first informing the client, and allowing the
client the option of declining such services.
Any unpaid fees shall carry balances shall carry interest at 15% or the
highest rate permitted by law, whichever is less.
I. Credit Reports
We are now
able to order credit reports online from all three credit bureaus for clients,
to insure that all creditors are listed on the bankruptcy case. The fee for this is $35/client (ie $35 in an individual case and $70 for a joint
case). This fee would need to be paid
prior to ordering the credit reports, but it is up to the client whether to
order them.
II. Changes, additions
or deletions.
If the client
wishes to change information on the petition after it has been typed, the
changes will be made at no additional charge if the changes are made prior to
filing the case. If any changes are required
after the case is filed there will be a $50 charge for any such changes, in
addition to the court fee, if any.
Therefore, it is important that the clients list all information on the
questionnaire correctly, and list the current, correct addresses of all
potential creditors as well as any collection agencies or attorneys on the
initial questionnaire.
The client
should review the petition before it is filed, and make any corrections at that
time. It is very important that all
creditors be listed on the petition. If,
for any reason, a creditor is not on the petition filed with the court, or if
the address for the creditor is incorrect, that debt may not be eliminated by
the bankruptcy.
III. Adversary
and contested proceedings
If an
adversary proceeding is filed in the bankruptcy court against the client, or if
the client wishes this firm to file an adversary proceeding against someone
else, then an additional retainer will be required for the law firm's
representation in this adversary proceeding.
If the client
has some other litigation in the bankruptcy other than the bankruptcy case
itself, then we would charge an hourly rate to represent the client in that
litigation. Any litigation over the
value of the client's property or right to exempt the property would be
included as matters requiring an additional retainer.
The client
agrees to an hourly rate of $275 per hour for Michael Barnett or $175/hour for
any other attorney, and $100/hour for the senior paralegal, and $50/hour for any
junior paralegal employed by the firm which hourly fee may be increase
periodically in accordance with the prevailing standard hourly fees charged to
clients of the office for similar services.
If the total due from the hourly fee exceeds the amount of the initial
fee, the client shall remain liable for the excess, and the law firm may
discontinue representation if the excess is not paid.
IV. Conversion
If the client
wishes to convert the case to another chapter after it has been filed, there
will be an additional fee required before the conversion can be filed. Fee arrangements for the conversion must be
made at the time of the conversion.
V. Lien
Avoidance
If when you
borrowed money from a creditor, you gave them a list of furniture in the house,
they probably took a lien on that furniture.
Unless they financed the furniture, the law firm can file a motion with
the court to eliminate this lien on the furniture. There is a $100 charge to file this motion,
and the firm must be paid prior to filing the motion. This motion must be filed before the
bankruptcy case is closed (about four months after the case is filed).
Alternatively,
the client may either continue paying that debt to the creditor, or may take
the risk that the creditor will show up later to repossess the items.
If a creditor
has a judgment against the client, and that judgment has been recorded in the
county court public records, then the law firm may be able to file a motion to
eliminate this lien from the property.
If were any suits against the client that went to final judgment, the
client should check the county court real property records to see if the
judgment is recorded, and if so, should set an appointment with the law firm to
bring a copy of that judgment to the attorney.
The fee to file the motion to eliminate this type of lien is $250 per
judgment, and must be paid prior to the filing of such motion. Again, this motion may be filed anytime
before the bankruptcy case is closed, which will occur about four months after
the case is filed.
VI. Redemption
If a creditor
financed the purchase of furniture, appliances, jewelry or electronics, then it
is not possible to eliminate the creditor's lien without paying them
anything. In this situation, the client
has four choices: either keeps making payments to the creditor; work out a deal
directly with the creditor to keep the merchandise; take the risk that the
creditor will repossess the items; or pay us to file redemption with the court. Redemption is a proceeding where we have the
court determine the value of the merchandise purchased from the creditor, and
then the client would have to pay this value in cash to the creditor. Once this money is paid to the creditor, the creditor
would no longer have the right to repossess the merchandise. Our fee to file this motion would be $250.
VII. Stay
Litigation
If the client
wishes to keep any items securing a loan (including real estate securing a
mortgage or car loans), the client must either file a lien avoidance or
redemption; or keep making the payments on the loan. If the client does not keep making the
payments and does not file any other motion, the creditor may file a 'motion
for relief from stay' with the court.
This motion is requesting that the court allow the creditor to repossess
the items securing its loan. Unless the
client is able to immediately catch up the payments on the loan, the court will
allow the creditor to repossess the items.
The law firm
will generally not respond to these motions.
If the client wants the firm to respond to the motion and/or attend any
hearing on the motion, there would be an additional $250.00 fee, which would
have to be paid prior to the law firm taking any action in the matter.
VIII. Missed
Hearing
There will be
a meeting of creditors about one month after the bankruptcy is filed. The client will receive a notice from the
court giving the time and date of this hearing.
This notice should be received between one and two weeks after the case
is filed. If the client does not receive
such notice within three weeks after the case is filed, the client should call
our office or the bankruptcy court to get the time and date of this meeting.
The client
must attend the meeting of creditors (if the case is filed jointly by husband
and wife, both must attend the meeting).
We will send a letter showing what documents must be brought to the
meeting. The law office will arrange to
have an attorney representing the clients at this meeting. If the client does not appear at the meeting,
or does not bring all required documents, then the case may be dismissed. If the client does not appear, or does not
bring all documents and the meeting is re-scheduled, then there will be an
additional charge of $200 for attending the rescheduled meeting.
It is also
sometimes possible to file a motion to excuse one of the clients from attending
the meeting, usually due to serious medical problems (a doctor's letter would
be required) or sometimes due to the client being out of the state and unable
to return. The firm would charge $100 to
file this motion, but cannot guaranty that the court would grant the request to
excuse the client's appearance. If the
court denies the motion, the client must attend a rescheduled meeting.
IX.
Reaffirmation
Some creditors
may request that the client sign a Reaffirmation Agreement. This agreement allows the creditor to sue the
client for the debt despite the bankruptcy.
While creditors may orally promise to allow the client to keep a credit
card or improve the credit report, unless these promises are in writing, they
are no good. If the client insists on
signing a reaffirmation agreement, there will be a hearing before the Judge,
which the client must attend and explain to the Judge why the client signed the
agreement. Our office almost always
recommends against signing the agreements (except sometimes as to vehicle loans
or leases) in that they do more harm than good to the client. In order for the firm to represent the client
in obtaining court approval of such an agreement, unless the firm recommends
that you sign the agreement, there would be a $200 charge.
Unless noted
to the contrary on this page, the law firm will not advise the client when a
creditor requests a reaffirmation of a debt.
X.
Appointments
Normally, a chapter 7 case will
require no more than 3 appointments after the initial meeting with the
client. In order to minimize the fee
charged for the chapter 7 case, it is assumed that no more appointments will be
required. If more than 4 additional
appointments are required, an additional fee of $85 per appointment will need
to be charged. Also, since appointments
are set for 1/2 hour each, and potential clients may be turned away due to
calendaring concerns, unless the appointment is cancelled 24 hours in advance,
the charge will still be made whether or not the client appears for the
appointment. While weekend appointments
are usually available in the
XI. Lawsuits
in state courts
If the client is suing someone,
or anticipates suing someone in state court, it is necessary to get bankruptcy
court approval to continue that suit, and to approve any settlement of that
lawsuit. Discuss these suits with Mr.
Barnett before you file the case.
Usually, the bankruptcy court will take over all rights to these suits
when a chapter 7 is filed. If the suit
or right to sue is not disclosed on the bankruptcy, then you will not be able
to sue in the future, or continue the lawsuit in most circumstances. If anyone is suing you, bring copies of the
lawsuit documents to the meetings with Mr. Barnett.
XII. Time to
file
The price for the bankruptcy
shown above is good for three months from the date signed. After
this date, we will apply any payments made to the new price, but the price will
increase correspondingly with our regular bankruptcy rates.
If the balance
of the fee is paid, or the balance of the information needed to file the
bankruptcy is provided less than one full business day prior to the deadline to
file the bankruptcy, and additional fee of $500.00 shall be required.
If the balance
of the fee is paid, or the balance of the information needed to file the
bankruptcy is provided less than four full business days prior to the deadline
to file the bankruptcy, an additional fee of $150.00 shall be required.
Any day on
which the clerk's office at the bankruptcy court is open and staffed shall be
considered a business day.
XIII.
Valuation of assets
The questionnaire provided will
ask you to value your property. Federal
law requires us to inform you how to value the property at replacement
value. If you would replace the property
by purchasing other similar used property at a flea market or from ebay, then you should value the property at what you would
expect to pay for items in a similar condition at a flea market or from ebay. It is not
clear whether the value of your household goods is at replacement or garage
sale value, and you should discuss this with us if you believe there is a
substantial difference in such values.
If you are unable to come up with values yourself, then we can give you
the name of an appraiser to go examine and value the property, but you would
need to pay the appraiser a separate fee for such appraisal. The firm will then determine which of your
property is exempt from creditors and the estate.
XIV. Audits
The Office of the U.S. Trustee is anticipated to be
performing random audits of bankruptcy cases filed, requiring documentation
supporting the items shown in the case.
To the extent counsel or staff has to spend significant additional time
or resources in responding to or representing the client in such audit, the
additional time will be billed at the hourly rates shown above.
XV. Closing of
Files
This office
may destroy or otherwise dispose of the client's file six months following the
notice of discharge from the court, or the order dismissing the case. The client may pick up any court papers from
the file two months after the discharge from the court. The client should not provide our office with
originals of any important documents, but instead should photocopy any
documents requested. This office will
not be responsible for any original papers given it.
XVI.
Cancellation of case
The client may
cancel representation by the end of the business day following the date of this
contract for a full refund. Otherwise,
all monies paid by the client to the law office shall be applied first to
payment of fees, and then to payment of costs.
The initial fee is a non-refundable advance payment for the law firm's
commitment to file a chapter 7 bankruptcy, and once paid, is the property of
the law firm. No refunds shall be issued
absent written arrangements to the contrary on this page..
Dated: ____________________ Dated: ____________________
____________________________ ___________________________
Client for Michael Barnett, PA
____________________________
Client
Attorneys fees:
$______________
Costs: $______________
Amount
Paid $______________
Amount
Due $______________
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Special
Arrangements:
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Notes: Vers. 8/07TPA