East Hazel Crest Bankruptcy Attorney On Getting Started

Today, let’s examine the B word, which in this case, actually stands for bankruptcy.  The first step is to get the client into the office for a free consultation.  Here at David Siegel’s office, we always offer free consultations for all of the cases – bankruptcy, foreclosure, divorce, child custody, family law cases.  Bankruptcy consultations usually last somewhere between 30 to 45 minutes on average.  If a case is particularly complex and complicated, they can extend to over an hour, but generally about 30 to 45 minutes.
Now, before we have the client come in for the free consultation, we try to ask them to bring as much information in as possible to make the consultation easier for both the client and for the attorney as well.  For example, I usually ask if they’re employed, to please bring in a recent paycheck stub with them.  Also, the most recent year of federal income tax returns if they happened to file for the previous year.
In addition, I also like to tell them that we do pull a credit report for them as part of our services to them, but typically on most credit reports, medical bills are not included.  So if that’s one of their main concerns, they should bring in medical bills, or at the very least, let the attorney know that they have medical bills.  Also, any lawsuits currently pending, which would include garnishments, any other lawsuits, I also like to have the potential clients bring this information in.  Having information on potential lawsuits against our clients is particularly important if the client is not from Cook County. For Cook County, we can look up the Cook County clerk’s office and often find the lawsuits listed there. If a client is from Lake, if they’re from Will, DuPage, we don’t have access to these lawsuits online, so it’s very important that if a client is being sued by a collection agency, if they’re being garnished, that they let us know this. 
The next step is to have the client complete an intake for us.  We have our intakes online on our website for the client to complete at home, or if they wish, they can complete it in the office.  Either way, it is extremely important for the client to complete this intake. 
Now, occasionally you do get clients who are a bit hesitant about completing the intake.  They don’t want to complete it, or they just have a simple question for an attorney, but in most cases, most clients will complete the intake for us.  When it comes to completing the intake, we tell the clients to just do their best.  The intake basically goes over issues like property and employment information, which I’ll get into in more detail later.  So they come in for a free consultation, and hopefully they have an intake filled out, and hopefully they have taxes with them and paycheck stubs.  They meet with the attorney for a free consultation.  And again, it’s always with an attorney. 
First of all, if they don’t decide to hire us at this moment, we often send them a follow-up letter just thanking them for coming in and letting them know that whenever they are ready to come in again and hire us, we can help them.  So it’s a great way to let the client know that we didn’t forget about them and to kind of keep our name still in their minds, especially clients who are going around and shopping around for attorneys, they know that we still remember them and we want them to come in and become one of our clients. 
Now let’s say that they do decide to hire us.  In that case, we will work out an affordable payment plan for our services.  The typical; payment plan is $100.00 every two weeks.  By offering a generous payment plan, almost anyone can afford the services of a quality bankruptcy attorney.