Do You Have A Complicated Bankruptcy?

Posted on: 7 November 2018

People from all walks of life end up needing the relief a bankruptcy can provide for them. Many consumers get in over their heads with credit card debt or medical bills. Others still suffer from huge financial losses with their investments, lose their jobs or suffer from an expensive divorce. The dollar amount of your bankruptcy plays just one part in how fast your case closes and how much it will cost you to file bankruptcy. Read on to find out some complicated but common factors that might place your bankruptcy situation on a different level than most.

Signs of a Complicated Bankruptcy

In addition to the court filing fee, your attorney bases their fee on how much time your case will take to resolve. Most cases involve a single court filing, a creditor's meeting, and not much more. If the attorney has to prepare extra forms or represent you in court for bankruptcy-related matters, the costs will rise. Here are a few issues that may cause you to pay more in both attorney's fees and court costs:

  1. Income – If your income is higher than the median income in your state, you can expect to pay more for to your attorney. If you have more than one source of income, that fact can also raise the fee you pay.

  2. Businesses – Even if you are filing a consumer bankruptcy and not a business bankruptcy, if you own a business your bankruptcy can be more complicated.

  3. Assets – The bankruptcy trustee has the right to seize property in a chapter 7 bankruptcy, sell that property, and distribute the proceeds to your creditors. If you have a lot of non-exempt property that must be processed, your cost will be higher.

  4. Retirement plans – 401(k) plans, retirement plans, and pension plans can prompt more costs.

  5. Debts – You have a very large number of creditors.

  6. Past bankruptcies (particularly recent bankruptcies)

  7. Liens against your property

  8. A foreclosure or an eviction has been filed against you.

  9. A wage garnishment or a bank levy has been filed against you.

  10. Fraud – Filers who either have or anticipate problems with creditors who are accusing them of misuse of credit cards or dishonesty on a credit card application can look forward to higher fees.

  11. Relationships – Filers who are already in the process of getting divorced have more complicated situations.

Sit down with your bankruptcy attorney to discuss issues that might add to the cost of your bankruptcy. The longer you wait to take action, the more complicated your bankruptcy might be.

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