Do I Need an Attorney to File My Bankruptcy Petition?

You are not required to have an attorney to file bankruptcy and you are permitted to prepare your petition yourself or pay someone to prepare the documents for you. You should be very careful with trying to represent yourself or trusting another non-attorney to prepare your petition. Quite often, those that wish to represent themselves have to attend multiple hearings that are unnecessary had they just filed the petition correctly from the beginning. Recently, I met with two separate individuals who filed their petitions themselves and paid an out-of-state non-attorney bankruptcy preparer to type their petitions. They had to now meet with me to try to save their case and their property due to the numerous mistakes found in their petitions. Also, they needed an attorney to help them communicate with the chapter 7 trustees who were trying to take their property due them not having enough exemptions to protect the amount of property they owned.

Each of these individuals chose a non-bankruptcy preparer to save money but it ultimately ended up costing them more money in the long run since they had to hire an attorney after their bankruptcy filing to fix all the errors in their petitions. This caused the attorney to spend more time on their case than would have been needed had they just hired the attorney from the beginning. The consequences are enormous if errors are made in your petition, including but not limited to the following:

You could face perjury charges if the information is incorrect in your petition and you try to hide property.
You could lose your home, vehicles or other property if you do not know how to determine if they are protected prior to filing your petition.
Your case could be dismissed due to the errors made in your petition.
You could have to attend additional hearings to explain the errors in your petition to the judge.

In most cases, hiring an attorney after filing bankruptcy does not reduce your bankruptcy costs but instead will increase your costs due to that attorney having to repair the problems with the initial bankruptcy filing which takes extra time.

A non-attorney bankruptcy preparer cannot give you legal advice. This creates an enormous risk for you since there are so many factors to consider in determining which option of bankruptcy is right for you. At Bond & Botes, we offer a free initial consultation with a licensed attorney to help you determine what bankruptcy option may be best for you and we offer affordable payment arrangements to help you deal with the costs of filing bankruptcy.

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Bond & Botes Law Offices

At Bond & Botes, we now offer full service bankruptcy consultation and filing over the phone or by video from the comfort and safety of your home or office. Please call 1-877-581-3396 or click here to setup your free phone or video consultation.

The lawyers at the Bond & Botes affiliated offices serve clients at offices in Anniston, Birmingham, Mobile, Montgomery, Opelika, Decatur, Huntsville, Florence, Haleyville and Gadsden, Alabama; Vicksburg, Hattiesburg and Jackson, Mississippi. Read our disclaimer here. You can view our Privacy Policy here.

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Birmingham

2107 5th Avenue North
Age-Herald Building
Birmingham, Alabama 35203
Phone: (205) 802-2200


Shelby County Location
15 Southlake Lane, Ste 140
Birmingham, AL 35244
Phone: (205) 802-2200


Florence Location
121 S. Court Street
Florence, AL 35630
Phone: (256) 760-1010


Huntsville Location
225 Pratt Avenue NE
Huntsville, AL 35801
Phone: (256) 539-9899


Montgomery Location
311 Catoma Street
Montgomery, AL 36104
Phone: (334) 264-3363


Decatur Location
605 Bank Street
Decatur, AL 35601
Phone: (256) 355-2447


Haleyville Location
914 19th St.
Haleyville, AL 35565
Phone: (205) 486-3580


Gadsden Location
430-B Chestnut Street
Gadsden, AL 35901
Phone: (256) 485-0195


Opelika Location
216 South 8th Street
Opelika 36801
Phone: (334) 887-7666


Anniston Location
1302 Noble St #2C
Anniston, AL 36201
Phone: (256) 344-3559


Cullman Location
200 Second Avenue SW
Cullman, AL 35055
Phone: (256) 739-9866


Mississippi Offices

Jackson Location
5760 I-55 North, Ste 100
Jackson, MS 39211
Phone: (601) 353-5000


Hattiesburg Location
607 Corinne St, Ste B8
Hattiesburg, MS 39401
Phone: (601) 264-7200


Vicksburg Location
1212 Farmer Street
Vicksburg, MS 39180
Phone: (601) 353-5000

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