Preparing to file, have questions

What is the name of your state?
I have tons of questions, so please bare with me. I am new to this message board and have found some answers I didn't even know I had questions to.
We have retained an attorney and he will not file until we are paid in full. It will be about $600-800. Is that the going rate? We are in Ohio. We have paid $400. So far but might not be able to pay the rest for about 2 months. We haven’t paid on any of our credit cards for about 9 months.
We are about 50k in debt and going for a Chapter 7. We want to keep our house. We are two payments behind but the mortgage company has us on a repayment plan.
1.) Do I need to catch these payments up before I file? I am scared that I will lose the house if I don't.
We also have a 2nd & 3rd mortgage. Both are current and we would like to keep them out of BK.
2.) Should we reaffirm or just keep making payments?
My husband is also a business owner. He is incorporated and has a partner sharing 50% ownership. We are only filing on personal debt. We want to keep the business separate. My attorney said this shouldn't be a problem because he just started two years ago and doesn't really have any assets yet. He does have a company van and some tools. His stock is not worth anything but he does have about 30k in his business checking. He has weekly payroll, insurance, taxes, material and office expenses. I'm TERRIFIED that they will try to go after anything to do with the business. Please, if there is someone out there with first hand knowledge of this, I'd like to hear from you. We are not interested in filing if it will affect the business in any way.
3.) Will they try to attach his checking account?
My attorney said we need to keep any money out of our personal checking account.
4.) How do I pay the bills? Does the court do a bank inquiry, and when? Should I cash the paychecks and pay bills with cash.
5.) Do they monitor your bank accounts and for how long?
6.) I've heard that they check your account the day you file, but not after, is this true?
7.) I have a 1996 vehicle that is paid off. I think blue book value is about 4k to 5k. I want to keep it, How do I do it?
8.) Does anyone have any horror stories? Thought things were going to go smoothly and they didn't?
9.) Can they deny you your house if your payments are up to date?
10.) I have retained an attorney, but what do I do if someone files a suit before I actually file? I have changed my phone number so I no longer get collection calls. Should I send a notice to all creditors that I am filing?
Thank you for all your help! This site has made me feel alot better about filing. I was so frightened before I read the many stories. Okay, so I'm still frightened, just not as much.

[Ladynred]

Per the forum rules.. we need to know your STATE, please

First, I'm glad you've got an attorney. As for the 'going rate' its hard for us to say here, it varies so much by state and by area. $200 of that is the filing fee alone, the rest goes to the lawyer.

I'll try to answer your questions. I would recommend a book in the meantime. The Nolo Press book "How to File Chapter 7 Bankruptcy'. It will help answer most of your questions and calm some of your fears. It tells you exactly what goes on your forms and the whys and hows, its a great book. You can get it at Amazon for about $30, bookstore cost me $35.

1.) Do I need to catch these payments up before I file? I am scared that I will lose the house if I don't.

Yes, you need to get them caught up before you can reaffirm.
As for not including the 2nd and 3rd (ouch!), you can't exclude them, you have to declare ALL debts. Is your lawyer going to try to get rid of these loans (sometimes called a cramdown) ?

2.) Should we reaffirm or just keep making payments?

That's entirely up to you and depends on your situation. Some lenders insist on reaffirmation. If you're income is going to be stable and you can keep up on ALL the payments, with no income worries, then reaffirm it. Otherwise, if there's any shakiness to keeping up, skip the reaffirmation if you can. That way, if you lose the house, you won't have 3 mortgages on your back afterwards.

2a - I really can't answer to the business angle.. I don't personally know enough how this is or is not protected.. one of the legal guys here would know better.

3.) Will they try to attach his checking account?

No, not as long as the cash in it is under the exemption. Your lawyers advice to keep the cash out of the account is good.

4.) How do I pay the bills? Does the court do a bank inquiry, and when? Should I cash the paychecks and pay bills with cash.

You can still pay bills.. deposit exactly what you need to clear the checks for the normal expenses. IF the Trustee asks for your bank statements, what they'll see is in and out for exactly what your stated expenses are, no more, no less.

If that makes you uncomfortable, pay bills with money orders and keep ALL receipts as proof of where the money went.

5.) Do they monitor your bank accounts and for how long?

No, they don't monitor your accounts. A Trustee may verify you have an account and maybe the balance in the course of his/her job, but its also unlikely - they have a LOT of cases to handle these days.

6.) I've heard that they check your account the day you file, but not after, is this true?

Yes, this is true. The Trustee may want to see your bank statement for that day to verify your numbers on the forms.

7.) I have a 1996 vehicle that is paid off. I think blue book value is about 4k to 5k. I want to keep it, How do I do it?

Forget Blue book, you want BLACK book value - yeah, I'd never heard of that before yesterday either. Here's a site for just that, use that value and your vehicle is likely to be exempt:

[url]http://www.carquotes.com/blackbook.asp[/url]

Adjust the price as needed for the actual condition of your vehicle.

8.) Does anyone have any horror stories? Thought things were going to go smoothly and they didn't?

To say there aren't any horror stories would be misleading, there have been some. You're better off with a lawyer and a little education (buy the book). For the most part, people who come thru here report mostly sucesses with little or no problems, especially if they have a lawyer. Those who file pro se seem to run into more problems more often than not.

9.) Can they deny you your house if your payments are up to date?

They can deny reaffirmation, but probably not your house altogether.

10.) I have retained an attorney, but what do I do if someone files a suit before I actually file? I have changed my phone number so I no longer get collection calls. Should I send a notice to all creditors that I am filing?

Since you HAVE retained an atty, any and all collection notices, calls and lawsuits go thru him. Don't notify your creditors, they'll find out thru the courts soon enough. IF you're contacted at all, send it on to your lawyer and he/she will handle it for you, that includes a lawsuit.

Good Luck !

Thanks for your response. I am about 1 1/2 payments behind on my 1st mortgage. My 2nd & 3rd are current. I checked the Black Book value on my car and it is $3,050. Will I be able to keep it? As for keeping the 2nd & 3rd mort.'s out, I meant that I wanted to reaffirm. I don't want to risk filing on any account secured by my house.

Is there anyone else out there who can answer any questions about my husbands business. I have asked those questions a couple of times on other forums and no one seems to be able to answer them. My attorney seems to think everything will be fine but I would just like to have another person put my mind at ease a bit.

[Ladynred]

Ok.
Here are you OH exemptions:

[url]http://www.thebankruptcysite.com/exemptions/ohio.htm[/url]

You get $1000 for a vehicle (equity) and a $400 wild card for any property, so max is $1400. Now that you have the black book price, take 30% off of that and you get a fair bk value for your vehicle. Subract a bit more for high mileage, any damage, repairs needed etc. You *could* be close on the vehicle, but if its your only one, it may not be a problem, but your lawyer should be able to handle that one.