I offer each ordinary consumer client an honest, reliable flat-rate retainer fee for Chapter 7 bankruptcies. I do not publish ridiculously low fees, or low amounts that do not cover the entire case, thereby taking advantage by grabbing the attention of desperate debtors. I do not cover myself with other numbers or fine print elsewhere in advertising to enable me to demand more money from debtors later—after sucking them in. You can rely upon my flat-rate fees to complete your case with these defined exceptions:
1. It will NOT cover collateral cases such as collection lawsuits that normally get stopped by the bankruptcy filing, or separate adversary proceedings, with separate case files, concerning debts that resulted from crime, fraud or malfeasance.
2. It will not cover amendments to add additional creditors after the client allows the case to be filed at the court, as such amendments require about an hour of extra attorney time and an additional filing fee for the court
3. I may charge you more if you abandon the case for an extended period of time so that the work later needs to be redone.
4. I always reserve the right to withdraw from any case where the client has engaged in bankruptcy fraud.
Mr. Clark speaks personally with each client, who lives within driving distance, and spends about an hour discussing the client’s finances in detail, before stating a price. Once I engage the client with a fee agreement for that price, it normally will cover our entire service in your Chapter 7 bankruptcy case. With the exceptions stated above, you will not have to pay me a penny more for your consumer Chapter 7 bankruptcy, from start to finish,
I do not ask clients to bring money the first time we meet. If you do not hire me, I do not expect to be paid anything at all.
I do not demand the entire payment in full before I will begin preparing your bankruptcy case for filing. II do ask that the entire flat-rate retainer fee, and the court filing fee, be paid before your case gets filed at the courthouse. This is because I believe that bankruptcy should result in freedom for you, not more debt. I do not want to become your “creditor” because I feel that it would create a conflict of interest on our part. I want you to regain your freedom as soon as I have completed our work. I do not care to retain any right to sue you for fees, or to sell your property, after I have caused you to be relieved of the other debts. Bankruptcy is about you being restored as a free citizen. It should not be about you becoming the bankruptcy lawyer’s continued indentured slave.
Whenever ongoing small businesses are involved, I might decline to offer a consumer bankruptcy flat rate fee, and offer an hourly rate instead, depending upon the size of the business and complexities or extra time consumption that it might create. Most home businesses do not present any such result, however.