The most useful questions to ask a bankruptcy attorney at a first consultation cover eight areas: the lawyer’s experience with cases like yours, whether you qualify for Chapter 7 or Chapter 13, which of your specific debts will actually be wiped out, what property you can keep, whether any recent spending or payments to family could cause problems, how co-signers are affected, the full cost of filing, and what your financial life looks like afterward. Work through these in order, with your own numbers in hand, and you’ll leave the meeting with a real answer instead of a sales pitch.
How Much of Their Practice Is Bankruptcy
Ask what percentage of the attorney’s caseload is bankruptcy work. A lawyer who spends at least half their time on filings will know local trustee tendencies and current rule changes better than a general practitioner. Then ask how many cases like yours they’ve handled in the past year. Credit card debt, tax liens, and small business debt each raise different issues, and you want someone who has seen your fact pattern recently.
Ask who actually handles the file. Paralegals often prepare the petition and schedules while the attorney handles strategy and court. That split is normal, but you want to know which attorney will stand with you at the meeting of creditors, and whether it’s the same person sitting across from you at the consultation.
Whether You Qualify for Chapter 7 or Chapter 13
The threshold question is which chapter fits. Chapter 7 discharges most unsecured debt in a matter of months. Chapter 13 sets up a three-to-five-year repayment plan based on your income.1United States Courts. Bankruptcy Basics Which one you’re eligible for turns largely on the means test.
The means test compares your household income over the six full calendar months before filing to the median income for your household size in your state.2United States Department of Justice. U.S. Trustee Program – Means Testing Below the median, you generally qualify for Chapter 7. Above it, the test looks at allowable expenses to see whether you have disposable income that could fund a Chapter 13 plan. Bring six months of pay stubs so the attorney can run a preliminary calculation in the room.
If you’ve filed before, ask about the waiting periods. You can’t get a Chapter 7 discharge if you received one in a case filed within the previous eight years.3Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 11 USC 727 – Discharge From a prior Chapter 7 to a new Chapter 13 the gap is four years. From a prior Chapter 13 to a new Chapter 7 it’s six years, unless you paid at least 70 percent of unsecured claims under the earlier plan. These clocks run from the filing date of the previous case, not the discharge date, so bring exact dates.
Which of Your Debts Will Actually Be Discharged
Not every debt disappears. Ask the attorney to look at your specific creditor list and mark which debts are dischargeable and which are not. The exceptions catch a lot of people off guard.
Federal law carves out several categories that generally survive bankruptcy:4Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 11 U.S. Code 523 – Exceptions to Discharge
- Child support and alimony are never dischargeable.
- Recent income taxes typically survive; older tax debts may be dischargeable if the returns were filed on time and the tax was assessed more than 240 days before filing.
- Student loans can only be discharged by proving “undue hardship” in a separate proceeding, which requires showing you can’t maintain a minimal standard of living while repaying and that the situation is likely to persist.
- Debts obtained through fraud or false pretenses stay with you.
- Debts from intentional injury to a person or property survive.
- Debts for death or personal injury caused by drunk driving are not dischargeable.
- Criminal restitution and most government fines and penalties remain.
If student loans are a large share of what you owe, ask directly whether pursuing an undue hardship claim is realistic in your case. The standard is demanding, but the Department of Education updated its guidance in recent years to make the analysis more borrower-friendly where expenses exceed income.
Recent Spending and Payments That Could Cause Problems
The trustee will look closely at your financial activity in the months before filing. Two areas trigger the most trouble.
If you charged more than $900 in luxury goods or services to a single creditor within 90 days of filing, or took cash advances of more than $1,250 within 70 days, the law presumes those debts were incurred fraudulently.5Federal Register. Adjustment of Certain Dollar Amounts Applicable to Bankruptcy Cases “Luxury” means anything not reasonably necessary for you or your family’s support. The presumption can be rebutted, but the creditor can object to discharge of those specific debts, and your lawyer needs time to prepare. Disclose recent large purchases.
Payments to family or business partners create a separate problem. The trustee can claw back payments to ordinary creditors made within 90 days of filing if those payments gave the creditor more than they’d get in the bankruptcy. For payments to insiders like relatives, the lookback runs a full year.6Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 11 USC 547 – Preferences If you repaid a $5,000 loan to your brother six months ago, the trustee could force your brother to return that money to the estate. Ask whether any of your recent transactions raise preference concerns and whether adjusting the filing date helps.
What Happens to Your Home, Car, and Retirement Accounts
Ask what property you keep and what you risk losing. The answer depends on exemption laws, which shield a set dollar amount of equity in different property categories. Every state sets its own exemptions, and some states let you choose between the state list and a federal list.7Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 11 U.S. Code 522 – Exemptions
In Chapter 7, the trustee can sell property where your equity exceeds the exemption. If you own a $15,000 car free and clear and your state’s vehicle exemption is $5,000, the trustee could sell the car, hand you $5,000, and pay creditors the rest.8United States Courts. Chapter 7 Bankruptcy Basics In Chapter 13 you keep the property, but your plan must pay unsecured creditors at least what they’d have received from a liquidation. The attorney should be able to estimate your exposure once they’ve seen your asset values.
Retirement accounts are usually safe. Employer-sponsored plans like 401(k)s are generally protected regardless of balance, and IRAs are protected up to a high threshold. Ask the attorney to confirm your specific accounts qualify.
How the Automatic Stay Applies to You
Filing triggers the automatic stay, which stops lawsuits, wage garnishments, foreclosure, repossession, collection calls, and virtually all other creditor action against you or your property.9Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 11 USC 362 – Automatic Stay Ask which specific collection actions in your case will halt on day one. If a creditor keeps collecting after being notified, the court can impose sanctions.
The stay has limits. Secured creditors can ask the court to lift it, especially if they can show they aren’t adequately protected. If you’re behind on a car payment and the car is losing value, expect the lender to file a motion. Ask how likely that is in your situation and what you can do to head it off.
If you had a bankruptcy case dismissed within the past year, the stay in a new filing lasts only 30 days unless the court extends it. If two or more prior cases were dismissed in the past year, you may get no stay at all.9Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 11 USC 362 – Automatic Stay Anyone with a prior filing should raise this immediately.
What Happens to Anyone Who Co-Signed With You
If someone co-signed a loan or credit account, ask what happens to them. In Chapter 7, your discharge doesn’t protect the co-signer. The creditor can pursue them for the full balance. This surprises a lot of filers, especially when a parent co-signed a car loan or a spouse is jointly liable on a card.
Chapter 13 offers more protection. A co-debtor stay prevents creditors from collecting consumer debts from your co-signer while your plan is active, as long as the plan proposes to pay that debt.10Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 11 USC 1301 – Stay of Action Against Codebtor If the plan doesn’t cover the debt or you default, the creditor can move to lift the stay and pursue the co-signer. Ask whether Chapter 13 makes sense purely because of co-signer exposure, even if Chapter 7 would otherwise work for you.
The Timeline, the Courses, and the 341 Meeting
Ask for a realistic timeline. A straightforward Chapter 7 typically closes three to four months after filing. Chapter 13 runs the length of the repayment plan, three to five years depending on whether your income is above or below the state median.1United States Courts. Bankruptcy Basics Asset disputes, creditor objections, or paperwork gaps can stretch either.
Every individual filer takes two required courses. Credit counseling has to be done before filing. Debtor education has to be done after filing but before discharge.11United States Department of Justice. Credit Counseling and Debtor Education Information Skipping either one can get your case dismissed or block your discharge.12United States Courts. Credit Counseling and Debtor Education Courses Ask which approved providers the attorney recommends and whether course fees are included in the quoted price.
About a month after filing you’ll attend a meeting of creditors, called a 341 meeting. It’s not a court hearing and no judge attends. A trustee runs it and questions you under oath about your petition, income, expenses, and property.13United States Department of Justice. Section 341 Meeting of Creditors Creditors can attend and question you but rarely do in consumer cases. Most 341 meetings are now held on Zoom. Ask whether the attorney will be present and how they want you to prepare.
Ask for the full document checklist early. At minimum, plan on producing:
- Pay stubs covering at least the 60 days before filing
- Federal tax returns for the past two years
- Bank statements for every account
- A complete list of every debt and every asset
- Titles or registration for vehicles and real estate
- Statements for retirement, investment, and life insurance accounts
Incomplete or inaccurate schedules are one of the most common reasons cases run into trouble. Ask how the attorney handles amendments if a debt or asset surfaces after filing.
What Filing Will Actually Cost You
Ask for the total number, not just the attorney’s fee. Court filing fees are set nationally: $338 for Chapter 7 and $313 for Chapter 13.14United States Courts. Bankruptcy Court Miscellaneous Fee Schedule Confirm whether the quoted fee includes those, and whether it covers the credit counseling and debtor education courses, which typically run $25 to $50 each.
Most attorneys charge a flat fee for a standard Chapter 7, commonly $800 to $3,000 depending on location and complexity. Chapter 13 fees run higher, but most or all of the fee can be folded into the repayment plan, so you pay over time rather than upfront. Ask for the fee structure in writing for each chapter.
For Chapter 7, ask when payment is due. Most firms require the full fee before filing, because unpaid pre-petition legal fees become dischargeable once the case is filed. Many firms offer installment plans leading up to the filing date.
If your income is very low, ask about a fee waiver. The court can waive the Chapter 7 filing fee entirely if your household income is below 150 percent of the federal poverty guidelines and you can’t pay in installments.15Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 28 USC 1930 – Bankruptcy Fees The waiver isn’t available in Chapter 13.
What Your Financial Life Looks Like Afterward
A bankruptcy filing can stay on your credit report for up to ten years from the date of the order for relief.16Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 U.S. Code 1681c – Requirements Relating to Information Contained in Consumer Reports In practice, the three major bureaus remove Chapter 13 filings after seven years, though the statutory maximum is ten. The score hit is severe at first and softens over time; many filers see credit offers within a year or two of discharge. Ask what to do after discharge to rebuild efficiently.
Federal law bars government agencies from denying employment, revoking a professional license, or otherwise discriminating against you solely because you filed. Private employers can’t fire or demote you for the same reason.17Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 11 USC 525 – Protection Against Discriminatory Treatment One gap worth knowing: the federal statute does not stop a private employer from refusing to hire you based on a bankruptcy filing. If you’re job hunting somewhere that runs background checks, ask how to handle it.
Finally, ask whether you should file at all. Debt negotiation, a debt management plan through a nonprofit credit counseling agency, or letting the statute of limitations run on old debts can produce a better outcome in some cases. If the debts causing you the most stress are the kind that survive bankruptcy anyway, filing may cost you money and credit without solving the problem. A good attorney will say so.
How You’ll Communicate Once You Hire Them
Before you leave, ask how to reach the attorney or their staff, whether by email, phone, or a client portal, and what their normal turnaround is for returning calls. Bankruptcy cases generate deadlines, and you need to know questions won’t sit for days.
If you’re ready to move forward, ask what they need to get started: the retainer amount, the full document list, and when the first filing-preparation meeting will be scheduled.