What’s with these Chapter 13 attorney fees?

I was wrapping up final preparations on a Chapter 13 petition and proposed plan today for filing next week. As I ran through the plan and made provisions for the adequate protection payments (in this region they are typically 1% of the value of depreciating assets), I realized it would be some time before I began getting paid for my work. You see, in a Chapter 13, one can put much of the attorney fees into the plan to be paid as administrative costs. This is a priority class of creditors that can be paid in full through the course of the plan. As a priority class, that also means they can be paid ahead of many other kinds of debt.

However, they do not get paid ahead of adequate protection payments. I had been very diligent in this person’s plan to make their budget workable so they could keep their family running while still saving their house and paying off the family car. That car, a family vehicle worth over $10k, meant that adequate protection payments would be over $100 per month right out of the gate. However, due to repaying some retirement plan debts (allowed to avoid tax penalties) their first several months of plan payments would not be much more than the adequate protection amount.

I breathed a sigh and reassured myself that it was just a matter of time and I would be compensated for the post-petition work. I felt good that I was helping the family and that they would be able to cover the arrears on their house and stave off foreclosure. And, I made a mental note that in the future I needed to be mindful of high value cars and tight budgets so that I asked for a smidgen more in up front fees on such matters.

This is a round about way to explain why, in discussing a Chapter 13 with your attorney, she or he may seem to waffle a little on the attorney fees. There is a $3,500.00 “no-look” fee in the Eastern District of Kentucky. This does not mean that is a set, required fee. Rather, if your attorney charges that much or less, the court is not going to ask your lawyer to prove up the time she or he spent as an attorney. If more is charged, then an application detailing the work must be produced. Most attorneys will charge the $3,500.00. Where the waffle comes in is how much will be required to be paid up front prior to filing. I tend to go on the low-end because I know things are so tight for people and I make it as affordable as a Chapter 7, but I have to off-set that with the demand of my own expenses.