Expert: Terry Leeders - 12/2/2007

Question
Thank you very much for taking the time to help people like me. I contacted my lawyer back in Aug 07 and started the process of a ch 7. He is charging my husband and I 2300 to file, we owe 1600 more to him. We are struggling right now so my 1st question is, do I have a time limit to pay him? 2nd he told my husband and I to change our taxes to claim the most we can so we both are exempt I don't understand why he told us to do that being we will probably end up owing the irs, is this normal? 3rd if I don't pay lawyer off by the time we do taxes and if we do get money back can we keep it if bk has not been processed being he won't file of coarse til he's paid? And lastly we had a car we owed 42000 we vuluntarily had it repo'd so we will owe the remaining amount, can we file that in the bk too? I had my mother finance us another car under her name being we couldn't get approved being our car payment was 900.00 a mth now its 500.00. Sorry about all the questions but my lawyer doesn't really provide clarification on anything. If I didn't already pay him 700 I probably would of found another lawyer. We reside in Nevada Las vegas

Answer
Unfortunately, these are attorney client relationship questions, and would be best asked to your lawyer, since this advice is what you are paying him or her to give you.  Each state has different exemptions to protect assets (including tax refunds) and each jurisdiction's trustee's go after assets differently.  YOu should read your contract as to when you need to pay the lawyer, though I am sure they will work with you on paying the fees, I know I do.  You can discharge the remaining balance on the repossession thru your case.  I would sit down with your lawyer until all questions are answered, otherwise seek out an attorney who will answer them for you.