Virginia Bankruptcy Client Reviews
Here’s what four hundred people say about me, my staff and filing bankruptcy.
If you are like most people, you’ve heard some folks talk about a bad experience with their bankruptcy lawyer. Some maybe from folks who went to the cheapest lawyer they could find. Others may have paid a high price to a lawyer who was real good a traffic or divorce, and did bankruptcy as a sideline.
This is all we do. We have the experience of twelve thousand bankruptcies. If you read our clients’ comments–from an independent rating service–you can see the smiles.
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{ 17 comments… read them below or add one }
In 1998 Nancy in Woodbridge helped through my bankrupcy. I can’t remember
her last name. She was wonderful. Now my son is going through a very rough
time and I’d like to know if she is still working with Mr. Weed.
May I ask what the initial payment is and then the final amount due.
I imagine the cost is more now, but please let me know.
Thank you,
Anne Key
Nancy Ryan, who worked for me for more then ten years, set up her own office in Fairfax, to be closer to her home. You can reach her at:
Nancy Ryan
9689 Main St.
Suite A
Fairfax, VA 22031
(703) 865-4222
I am in financial trouble and through Googling I found this site. However after doing some research I am afraid I do not qualify for bankruptcy. I do not want to waste anyone’s time but was wondering if I qualify for free consultantion on what could be done.
Also during this free consultation, is everything confidential as if there was a lawyer/client priveleged relationship where information divulaged cannot be revealed without explicit authoriziation?
Thank you in advance
Yes, during your consultation you have the right to privacy and confidentiality, whether we take your case or not.
I probably see four people a month who are convinced they can’t be qualified to file a Chapter 7 bankruptcy. We ALMOST always find a way to make it work.
A follow up question. When would one see you for free consultation?
I talked to an attorney on the phone, described my situation – he said it is too early because no one is coming after me yet. He told me to call back when TSHTF – when I get summon notices (aka, I am his very very very last resort). His reasoning was because perhaps the bank would not come after me for my 1st and 2nd mortgage.
The problem with waiting until then–you may have eligibility problems. Those eligibility problems might be solved if you had five or six months to work with, but you might not have time. My theory is bankruptcy is not like a car wash. It’s more like surgery. You need to be really clear about why you are going into it; and what you expect out of it. And that can only be done with the complete picture in front of both the client and the lawyer.
That’s why I don’t do telephone consultations.
A second reason to meet with a lawyer and do a complete analysis–you can be eligible to buy a house again two years after the bankruptcy is over. (And three years after the foreclosure.) You can get a car at about 7% interest two or three years after the bankruptcy. Do those things matter to you? (How old is your car now? Do you plan to try to buy a house again?) That’s something you need to go over carefully with your lawyer.
Putting off the bankruptcy means putting off getting back to good credit.
So unlike other attorneys I have spoken to you will actually sit down and plan with me at consultation the road path to bankruptcy if that is where ultimately I end up? Specifically at the consultation if there are potential road blocks you will help me plan around it (most likely by waiting it out or addressing the issue)?
It sounds like from your reviews you have the patience and concern for clients to help them “line their ducks up on a row”. Is that a fair statement to conclude from your website?
Again (for the last time) thank you for your response – I will make time to schedule a consultation in the next few weeks.
Yes, that’s it exactly. Look forward to meeting with you in person.
How does it work?
I called in and got an appointment – I asked if I would be meeting you personally. The reply was it would be with a paralegal.
Would the paralegal vet my document and there would be a second meeting with you [especially if it is a complex situation]?
Since emails do not appear on the blog I have disclosed my email. Also – I’ve been on your website so much to notice a standard installation of IE8 (on XP and Win7) will consistently crash after a viewing a few pages of your website.
You meet first with my paralegal, then with me. We don’t use your hour with me xeroxing paychecks and typing info into the computer. We have all that done before you and I meet. When you and I meet, we talk about whether, and how, bankruptcy can work for you.
Yes, you’ll have a second meeting with me. The meeting with the paralegal is to make sure you and I have everything we need when we meet.
If I go to court on a Warrant In Debt, and the Judge asks me if i owe this money, I should I say, I am not admitting I owe the money and ask for a continuancy as I am getting this letter on short notice and wish councel? (and as you state, If I say YES, I am admitting guilt and a judgement against me and garnishment proceedings will start?) I would like to not admit any guilt at that time so I can have time to obtain a lawyer and get council. Also can i ONLY ask for the BILL OF PARTICULARS if i ask for a TRIAL and start the GROUNDS FOR DEFENSE or can I ask for it at my first hearing when I ask for a continuancy? I would like to see the collection agencies documentation that they have the correct doc that states THEY own the debt now because it has change a few hands? I go to court this Thursday, 26th April. Thank you.
Anna:
I am really AGAINST lying to a judge–although I see lawyers for big companies put in writing stuff that they know they don’t mean. Your comment talks about a “collection agency.” You can truthfully say that you don’t know that you owe that collection agency any money and you want to see their bill of particulars, so you can do a grounds of defense.
Mr Reed, Thank you for your time and quick response. If I can impose just one last question on you sir, I know your time and knowledge is very valuable… #1) If I loose my Grounds of Defense trial, then is it just business as usual, the judgement is put against me, and the plaintiff (collection agency) starts procedures for garnishment? #2)Or can the judge and plaintiff impose more? #3) Can I go to jail immediately after loosing the case if they want me to pay something on the spot and I can’t? Is it normal for them to ask for money on the spot, even court costs?- I heard many states are bringing back “Debtors Jail”. Thank you again for your time.
Anna:
I saw that article about “Debtor’s Jail”, too. That was scarier than it needed to be.
You cannot go to jail for not paying your ordinary debts, like credit cards. (Child support, yes. A casino marker in Las Vegas, yes. If you are prosecuted for tax FRAUD, yes. I’m not talking about those kinds of things.) In Virginia, after they get a judgment, they can ask for a “summons to answer”–come in and tell us where you work and bank so we can garnish you? If you ignore that, you can go to jail. Not for not paying–but for not answering the question.
I talk about that here. http://robertweed.com/blog/virginia-bankruptcy/before-bankruptcy-can-i-go-to-jail-if-i-ignore-this-summons/
So, if you lose your trial, it is what I guess you means by “business as usual–the plaintiff collection agency starts procedures for garnishment.” They don’t get extra rights because you stood up for yourself and demanded a trail. You ask about “more money.” They usually get their lawyer fees added on to your bill–pretty much the same whether you make the lawyer work for it or not–MAYBE a little more there because you asked for a trial.
Thank you soooo much for your wonderful website helping me through the Warrant in Debt and what to expect in court. I went today in N.News. i wasn’t expecting all 20 some of us debtors for that hour to be ushered in like cattle. We stood in line and when your name was called, we were shoulder to shoulder with the SAME 1 Plaintiff lawyer, regardless of what BANK we were accused of owing a debt to. The judge asked us all the same question as soon as we took one step forward to the podium “Do you owe this debt? if you said no, the judge actually set motion for the trial date, BOP, and my Grounds of Defense printed out right in front of me, court dates and all. It took about a minute for all in line. (Except the judge decided he wanted to tell me a long story about himself as a youth and hanging at the beach too long???, I don’t know why, the moral of the tale was to remind me to hand my Grounds document in on time or I’d been better off hanging at the beach today. I just said, “YES Your Honor” and smiled. He was nice.) But I don’t know how that 1 lawyer represented all those collection agencies from different banks. I guess they all conveniently have the same lawyer so the collection agencies don’t have to commute? I wonder if it will be just him at trial too? Anyway, August trial date gives me time to explore my options. Because along with the Warrant in Debt, they attached a copy of my old bill and a notarized Affidavit from the Affiant of FIA card Services that she supposedly researched my account, BUT She wrote in an ENTIRELY WRONG ACCOUNT NUMBER on the Affidavit, she got the balance in question right, but the account number on the Affidavit she swore to and the old Bill copy she attached are way different, obviously someone else’s account which will not match my name or balance i am being perused for if researched. There was no account number written on the Warrant. Do you think I have a good case, since they submitted this error as evidence, even though they also DID attach a copy of an old bill with my correct bill with a correct account number and balance on it? Or do they have time if they realize their error and dot their I’s and cross their T’s on the BOP? Thanks again for your help.
Ann:
Glas I was helpful to you. And thanks for telling us about your experience in Newport News. I’ve never been to the courthouse there; it sounds like the judge was efficient, friendly and fair. That’s nice to know. I’ve never been in that courthouse.
Very clever to notice that the affidavit to the warrant in debt swore to a wrong account number. Shows how carefully they readon those before they sign it. We can HOPE the bill of particulars comes with the same mistake.
Now, you do need to explore your options. Right there in Newport News is Consumer Litigation Associates. http://www.consumerlawusa.com/firmprofile-desc.php CLA is headed by Len Bennett, who got his start fighting warrants in debt, and is now considered one of the top consumer lawyers in the country. If there’s a lot of money you owe FIA and if beating them get’s you out of trouble, then you probably want to spend money on a lawyer who can beat them. If CLA doesn’t do that work any more, they will know who does.
You need to decide if fighting the warrant in debt has a good chance and fixes your problem. Or is it just the front edge of a Strom that will keep coming at you. If FIA is only one of many who are coming after you, then you need to talk to a bankruptcy lawyer in your area. nacba.org is the place to look for bankruptcy lawyers.