@panthersguy wrote:i just thought it was kind of ironic that this lady was there with her attorney and she wasn't prepared...yes a LOT of people say you NEED an attorney, but my personal opinion is if you have a good understanding of the Bk laws and follow the deadlines and be honest and disclose everything, you can file Pro Se and be fine. Granted there are some filers who have complications that require an attorney and they should use one....
I've began the process of cleaning up our reports and filed a couple of disputes about the accounts that are not reporting correctly ($0 bal and IIB). There are a couple that are being resistant, but if they don't report correctly, then I'll file a complaint with the CFPB...
Looking forward to the rebuild......
My personal opinion is to have a "good understanding" of the bankruptcy laws you need to be a bankruptcy attorney.
Everyone knows why people file Pro Se... to save the attorney fee that is paid up front with a Ch 7. Thankfully I didn't have that problem... my $2500 attorney fee for Ch 13 was included in my monthly payment and it was well worth it. I didn't have to talk to anyone at the court or the trustee at all for the entire 4+ years of my Ch 13... my attorney handled it.
I've seen a handful of threads in my time here from someone who filed without an attorney... "OMG I forgot this and/or I didn't do this right what do I do now?"
Should have gotten an attorney.
Like I said TRC, there are people who NEED an attorney. My wife was a paralegal for years so she understood how the courts worked and the deadlines involved. Yes there are people who think they don't need one and don't do their research. Those are the ones who end up gettign themselves in trouble. They have no clue what all is involved with filing. We felt comfortable doing it ourselves and if we didn't we COULD have and would hired one and paid the fee.
Just glad the hard part is over and now the waiting begins....
@panthersguy wrote:Like I said TRC, there are people who NEED an attorney. My wife was a paralegal for years so she understood how the courts worked and the deadlines involved. Yes there are people who think they don't need one and don't do their research. Those are the ones who end up gettign themselves in trouble. They have no clue what all is involved with filing. We felt comfortable doing it ourselves and if we didn't we COULD have and would hired one and paid the fee.
Just glad the hard part is over and now the waiting begins....
Good for you... If you can file pro se and not screw it up... more power to ya. 
Like I said, I did a 13... so I didn't have to put any money up front like you Ch 7 filers... so my decision to get an attorney and CMA was quite easy. Dropping $2k over 5 years is a lot easier than paying it up front.