Consumer Workshop III: Cleaning It Up: Messy Chapter 7s

This session discusses how to identify chapter 7s with potential problems (debtors with businesses, searching public records for assets and transfers, requesting and reviewing documents in advance of filing, effective communication, etc.), how to manage chapter 7s that go sideways (staying on top of trustee document-production requests, 2004 exams, objections to discharge and negotiating effectively with the trustee), how to get paid (supplemental 2016(b) statements, new retainers and retention agreements, what’s covered by the original retainer agreement), and when and how to get out (declining to file messy cases to avoid consequences for you (malpractice) or your client, withdrawing for lack of post-petition payment for new work or client cooperation).