Frequently Asked Questions Below are answers to questions commonly-asked by my clients. Click on the question to which you want the answer, and you automatically be taken to the answer (or you can simply scroll down below). How much does it cost total? Do you pay the court filing fee out of the money I give you? How much do I have to pay you upfront? How much do I have to pay before you will file it? Do you have a money-back guarantee? Does a married couple cost more than a single person? What do you mean by "self-employed"? Do you accept payment by credit card? What does credit counseling cost? Do you pay for that out of what I pay you? If I change my mind about filing bankruptcy after I have retained you but before you have filed, will I get any of my money back? Will you run a credit report for me? Can I make payments to you? How does that work? What happens to money I give you other than the filing fee? I want to do the bankruptcy myself. Will you give me the forms? I am not in Oklahoma. Can you represent me? Is court always in the county where I live? Is there anything I can do to make things move faster? Your office is far from me. Must I travel to retain you? Do you take faraway cases? If so, do you charge extra? In what bankruptcy courts and locations have you appeared? What are the "Districts," and how do I know mine? What court-approved credit counseling and/or financial management agencies are currently available? So do I need to do my credit counseling before I come see you? So what is the "financial management" course? Are there two different counseling sessions? What on earth is a "debt-relief agency"? I want an attorney, not that. What are the "Section 527 Disclosures"? How many Chapter 7 bankruptcy cases have you filed? How many of those went through successfully to discharge? How much does it cost total? That depends. It depends upon how many jobs you and any spouse, regardless of whether that spouse is filing with you, have worked in the six-month period prior to your retaining me. Explain your job and income situation to me, and I can give you a straight answer. Back to Top Do you pay the court filing fee out of the money I give you? Yes. Back to Top How much do I have to pay you upfront? I prefer to have the entire flat fee upfront. While I will begin working on your case and preparing the paperwork for as little as $500.00 upfront, I will not file the case until I am paid in full. There is no payment plan where your case gets filed now and then you make payments. Why not? First of all, your filing bankruptcy because you cannot pay your debts, so I should not safely assume you be actually make your payments to me. Secondly, because exception for certain exceptions Chapter 7 discharges all pre-petition debt, I would be a fool without any collection remedy if I were not paid in full prior to filing the case. If you did not pay off your balance you had agreed to after the case was already filed, I would be prohibited by law from bothering you about it or trying to collect, just as the other creditors are prohibited from doing so. For this reason, I will not file the case until the total fee has been paid to me; and you should be cautious if considering retaining any attorney who is willing to allow you to make such payments because such attorney is either a fool for doing so or someone who breaks the law by harassing those he or she is attempting to help get out of debt. Back to Top How much do I have to pay before you will file it? The entire fee. There are a number of reasons why I must wait until the entire fee has been made and why I cannot allow you to make payments after the bankruptcy is filed. First, I use $299.00 of the money you give me to pay to the Court for the filing fee, which is quite a chunk of money. Secondly, most of the work I do is done before the case is ever filed. Reviewing the documentation you provide to me and preparing the paperwork are very time-consuming tasks, where as going to Court and post-filing work is not so. Third, your filing bankruptcy because you cannot pay your debts, so I should not safely assume you be actually make your payments to me. Finally, because exception for certain exceptions Chapter 7 discharges all pre-petition debt, I would be a fool without any collection remedy if I were not paid in full prior to filing the case. If you did not pay off your balance you had agreed to after the case was already filed, I would be prohibited by law from bothering you about it or trying to collect, just as the other creditors are prohibited from doing so. For this reason, I will not file the case until the total fee has been paid to me; and you should be cautious if considering retaining any attorney who is willing to allow you to make such payments because such attorney is either a fool for doing so or someone who breaks the law by harassing those he or she is attempting to help get out of debt. Back to Top Do you have a money-back guarantee? Yes, but only to this extent: If your bankruptcy filed under Chapter 7 is converted to Chapter 13 or just outright dismissed, I will give you a full refund of what you have paid me. Because I will refund you all your money, I will ultimately end up paying the $299 court filing fee and losing not only time but $299 worth of money on the case. In over 500 Chapter 7 bankruptcies, I have never had a case converted to a Chapter 13 and have had only 2 cases get dismissed, which occurred due to one client's false statement and another's failure to ever come to Court. I am supposed to say, however, that past performances does not guarantee future results. But, yes, if I screw it up and it is not due to your committing fraud, failing to disclose something obviously significant to me, or failing to appear at court, I will give you a full refund.  Back to Top Does a married couple cost more than a single person? It depends. If your spouse does not work, then no. If so, then yes, as I charge an additional $100.00 per source of income from work. Back to Top What do you mean by "self-employed"? “Self-employed” applies to any person who has been a sole proprietor or partner of a business or a director or owner of a corporation or LLC or who otherwise has had a business or been self-employed within the last 5 years. The term even applies if the Client is married, the Client’s spouse is not filing bankruptcy, and only the Client’s spouse was self-employed and not the client. Back to Top Do you accept payment by credit card? Yes, but not Discover or American Express. I ACCEPT VISA AND MASTERCARD ONLY. Also, if you have a PayPal account at www.paypal.com you may pay through that. My registered e-mail address with them, to which you would need to direct payment, is jk_mitchell@sbcglobal.net Back to Top What does credit counseling cost? Do you pay for that out of what I pay you? Currently, the total of the two required courses for a single person or couple ranges anywhere from $45 to $125 for a single person or couple filing bankruptcy. Online credit counseling is significantly cheaper than credit counseling done over the phone or in person. These more expensive types of credit counseling cost more for a couple filing jointly than a single person, but most online sites do not charge any additional amounts for a couple filing jointly and are overall less expensive anyway. That amount includes both courses, of which the first course comprises about two-thirds of that amount and the second course about one-third of that amount. How much you pay depends on which agency you use. The agencies set their own fees. And NO, I do not pay for it out of the money you give me. Typically, it is the only additional expense you must pay for on your own. The agency you use can inform you of the cost in advance. Back to Top If I change my mind about filing bankruptcy after I have retained you but before you have filed, will I get any of my money back? Yes. I will keep $301 for my work in preparing the bankruptcy, and you will be refunded the amount which was to be used to pay your court filing fee, which is $299. Read my fee agreement, entitled "Client Interview Form and Agreement" and downloadable from the "Ready to File" page of my website. Back to Top Will you run a credit report for me? Yes, I will run one through Experion. It costs me $12.50 for a single person, and $22.50 for a married couple. I pay the costs out of what you give me and don't ask you for any additional money to pay that cost. If you want it run a credit report through all three bureaus, you can do so yourself and pay for it yourself. Back to Top Can I make payments to you? How does that work? In a way. Not in the sense that you can pay some small amount such as $100 per month, but more like $500 one month and the remaining balance the next. You are going to have to pay me in full before I will file your case. Also, you are going to have to pay at least $500 before I will accept your case and begin working on it, and that is why I cannot accept small monthly payments: If I did, your information would become outdated prior to filing your bankruptcy, and we would have to redo all the paperwork. After you make your initial payment, I will then prepare your paperwork and send it to you. Usually you receive the completed bankruptcy paperwork in the mail from me, for you to approve, approximately one week after meeting with me and/or providing me with all the documentation I need to prepare your bankruptcy. See my Client Interview Form and Agreement, specifically the Agreement part of that document, for more details. Back to Top What happens to money I give you other than the filing fee? It goes to me for my hard work. Back to Top I want to do the bankruptcy myself. Will you give me the forms? No. I am an attorney operating a law office seeking to represent you, not some unlicensed person seeking to make money in the legal arena from people who wish to try to do their own bankruptcies. Fortunately, I have a law license and a juris doctorate degree. Unfortunately, however, I incurred substantial student loans and worked through college and law school for more than 7 years to obtain this degree and this license. Like most of you, I have bills to pay; unlike you, I cannot get out of paying them by filing bankruptcy. Back to Top I am not in Oklahoma. Can you represent me? Probably not. You need to have resided in Oklahoma for at least 6 months to establish residency. You must have residency in order to file bankruptcy in Oklahoma. Even if you have just moved out-of-state after residing here for more than 6 months, you would have to travel back to go to Court here and should probably consider waiting until you have established residency elsewhere and file your bankruptcy there. Back to Top Is court always in the county where I live? No. Bankruptcy courts are divisions of the federal court system. Consequently, they have nothing to do with your local county or district court. There are only three federal districts in Oklahoma. I can tell you where you will go to Court if you tell me the town in which you live. Back to Top Is there anything I can do to make things move faster? First of all, get copies of all requested information to me that is bulleted toward the end of my Client Interview Form and Agreement, downloadable in Microsoft Word format from my Ready to File page. Secondly, do your mandatory credit counseling at an agency approved by the Court having jurisdiction over you. To locate such an agency, go to this link: http://www.usdoj.gov/ust/eo/bapcpa/ccde/cc_approved.htm Back to Top Your office is far from me. Must I travel to retain you? No. Perhaps you do not feel like doing the drive. If so, we can do the initial paperwork and retainer agreement by mail, and after that we can conduct all communications by telephone, mail, and/or e-mail. I have several out-of-state and long-distance clients, or clients who are in the local and Tulsa metropolitan area but who just do not feel like taking the time to travel to my office. In fact, I have several out-of-state clients who have never actually set foot in my office, many of whom I will never meet in person. If a document needs to be signed, I can mail it to you with a return envelope enclosed, and you can sign it and mail it back to me. In the alternative, I can e-mail it to you, and you can print it out and sign it and mail it back to me--whatever works best for you. Back to Top Do you take faraway cases? If so, do you charge extra? Yes. How far you live from my office is irrelevant to me since I will not have to travel to your residence. Rather, that all depends on whether or not you are willing to travel to see me or if you are comfortable with simply conducting business by mail. As far as my physical distance from any of the courts or creditor meetings locations, you need not worry about that either. I can always decline to take a case if I wish, and I generally turn down cases for people residing in the Lawton area or Southwestern corner of the state, since the drive to the creditor's meeting in Lawton is quite long for me. But I regularly go to Tulsa and Okmulgee and also to OKC, Guthrie and Enid. For these last three places I mentioned, which lie in the Western District, I charge an additional $100.00 upfront to cover my gasoline and additional travel time. Back to Top In what bankruptcy courts and locations have you appeared? All of them in this state. I have appeared at all three bankruptcy courts in Oklahoma and at every existing creditor's meeting location of which I am aware. Back to Top What are the "Districts," and how do I know mine? "Northern District," "Eastern District," and "Western District" are designated areas based upon federal-court jurisdiction. I can tell you which district you are in if you tell me the town in which you live. Also, if you review my descriptions under the various districts' credit counseling downloadable links on my "Ready to File" page, you might gain a better understanding of what district is where and perhaps which district you live in. Back to Top What court-approved credit counseling and/or financial management agencies are currently available? You can find a list for each of them on my INTERNET LINKS page. They are sorted by federal district. Back to Top So do I need to do my credit counseling before I come see you? No. You just need to do the pre-petition credit counseling before we can file your bankruptcy. Typically, I provide you with an up-to-date list of available agencies when you retain me, and within the week after that you get your credit counseling done while I am preparing your bankruptcy paperwork. Back to Top So what is the "financial management" course? Are there two different counseling sessions? Yes. The pre-petition counseling is done before bankruptcy. The financial management part of it you do not worry about until later. You get that done after you have filed bankruptcy and no later than 45 days after your scheduled court date. Neither session typically takes more than a few hours of your time. I can answer questions you may have about the process. Back to Top What on earth is a "debt-relief agency"? I want an attorney, not that. An attorney is and can be a debt-relief agency. A debt-relief agency is an agency or person who assists others in the bankruptcy process. It is a term that Congress created when they passed the Bankruptcy Reform Act in October, 2005. In my opinion, it is an annoying term. Regardless, we are supposed to use it. But do not let it confuse you. Yes, I am a debt-relief agency; but also, yes, I am a real attorney with a real law office and two office locations. Back to Top What are the "Section 527 Disclosures"? They are disclosures that under the Bankruptcy Reform Act passed in October, 2005, a debt-relief agency or bankruptcy attorney is bound to make/disclose to potential clients. I make them here on line. They appear on the General Info page and are downloadable from the Ready-to-Retain page as well. Looking at my colleagues' sites online, I do not see the disclosures posted. On some, I do not even see the required "We are a Debt Relief Agency" acting under the "Bankruptcy Code" language that is required in advertisements. That is unfortunate for these attorneys and debt-relief agencies, since they can be sanctioned by the Court for failure to make the disclosures and using this language, as they are violating the law. Do NOT use an attorney who advises you to lie or commit fraud or to be untruthful with the Court, as there may be grave consequences. If the attorney or agency you select is to lazy to require that you read the Section 527 disclosures, take the initiative to read them yourself. Also, review your bankruptcy paperwork carefully before you sign it. Make sure the information in it is truthful and accurate. Back to Top How many Chapter 7 bankruptcy cases have you filed? How many of those went through successfully to discharge? aver 800. To my knowledge, All but 7 cases. Of those, in 3 cases people changed their mind after filing, due to getting a good job after filing or suddenly having ethical problems with the bankruptcy process itself, and chose to voluntarily dismiss their cases. On 1 of those, my client disappeared and never showed up for Court. On the remaining 3, my clients failed to timely complete their 2nd credit course and so their bankruptcy discharge was denied; although those clients could have retained me to do a motion to reopen and see their bankruptcy cases through to discharge for half the cost of their original bankruptcy, they never did so. Back to Top |Front Page| |General Info| |Can I file?| |My Price| |Ready to File!| |FAQs| |Related Links| |Main Office Map| |Tulsa Office Map|