How can a person declaring bankruptcy afford a lawyer? In most jurisdictions, a person overwhelmed by debt can declare a personal bankruptcy (for example, filing for a Chapter 7 bankruptcy in the United States, or for a Verbraucherinsolvenz in Germany). Reading articles on celebrities filing bankruptcy (Toni Braxton files for second bankruptcy, Boris Becker’s life ‘ruined’ by bankruptcy conviction, says lawyer), it seems that people typically retain a lawyer to represent them during the bankruptcy proceedings. However, does declaring bankruptcy not mean that you have virtually no assets left, and will remaining assets not be frozen during the bankruptcy proceedings? So how can a person filing bankrupty afford a lawyer? Is the lawyer paid from public funds? Or are there exceptions from the asset freeze? I am most interested in answers about Germany or the US - other perspectives are welcome, too.
united-states Typically, people who have the very least assets and little prospective income expected (e.g. homeless vagrants) don't file for bankruptcy. The creditors can't get blood out of a turnip so there is no advantage of doing so. Also, often no one extends them credit in the first place, so they have few creditors in most cases. Instead, people file for bankruptcy when: They have significant assets and significant debts and want to preserve assets exempt from creditors such as equity in a house that benefits from a homestead exemption (in which case payment of a bankruptcy lawyer is a debt with priority over other debt's of the debtor in bankruptcy), and/or They have significant future income prospects and want to preserve future income by eliminating debts, and pre-pay the bankruptcy lawyer with assets saved by not paying creditors when due. These prepayments are not &quot;clawed back&quot; because paying bankruptcy lawyers is a debt that has priority in bankruptcy over other creditors, and/or They have assets that would be sold for fair less than fair market value in ordinary auction sale type debt collection methods, and would realize far more value (possibly paying off debts in full as a result) in a bankruptcy. If there is a realistic probability of payment in full of the debts in an orderly disposition of those assets, often an individual Chapter 11 bankruptcy is filed instead. Also, a simple bankruptcy in Chapter 7 for someone with no assets that are not exempt from creditors (which is the predominant form of bankruptcy filing in the U.S.) isn't expensive and is usually mass produced by paralegals with only light lawyer supervision. It can usually be done for as little as $300-$500 of attorney fees, plus filing fees and mailing fees, for a total of well under $1,000. Sometimes a bankruptcy petitioner can get friends or family to advance or give them that money for that purpose.
Yes; While contracts can be made in written and oral form bigger acquisitions normally are in written form. Also consider this: They can't prove that they told you that the balcony is not usable. Thats a big negative in buying a property and they would need to have it documented. If they still refuse consider seeking professional help. In my country lawyers offer "fast help" that isn't legally binding but costs you only 10$ and helps you finding out if your case has any possibility to get accepted/if you're right. EDIT: Regarding the reservation fee: You can dismiss that. You didn't reserved that object, you reserved a house with balcony.
Whether one can recover attorneys fees after litigation in California depends upon the nature of the case. Their amount may be affected by the nature of the judgment. The general rule is each party is responsible for that party's attorney's fees. That means that the trial result is irrelevant - no matter what happens, one pays for one's own attorneys fees. There are, however, some exceptions: First: if the parties are litigating a contract, the contract text itself may provide that the prevailing party can recover attorneys fees from the non-prevailing party. Such &quot;Attorneys' Fees Clauses&quot; are common. The prevailing party may have to file a motion in the trial court for the judge to add attorneys fees to the judgment amount; the judge will also be responsible (in ruling on the motion) to determine the amount of attorneys fees. Second: specific state statutes may allow the prevailing party to recover &quot;Statutory attorneys fees.&quot; This is completely dependent on whether the case at issue fits the various statutory definitions. For example, the Song-Beverly Consumer Warranty Act (the California &quot;Lemon Law&quot;) provides for the recovery of attorneys fees by an aggrieved consumer. There are multiple other examples throughout the California Codes. Third: @ohwilleke (to whom thanks) added a comment below that includes other exceptions to the general rule. The comment text was: There are a few other exceptions, e.g. breaches of fiduciary duties involving trust finds, bad faith breaches of insurance contracts, etc. Also, it is possible for attorneys' fees awards to be made because litigation or some specific conduct in litigation is either groundless and frivolous, or violates a court rule. Further, a prevailing party generally gets court costs (e.g. filing fees, expert witness fees, copying costs, and other out of pocket expenses other than attorneys' fees) even when attorneys' fees are not awarded. Most are modest, but not expert witness fees. If the case at issue does not fall within an exception, the general rule — each party is responsible for their own attorneys fees — applies.
To determine whether an attorney is licensed to practice in a specific jurisdiction, you need to look up that attorney in the bar that applies to that jurisdiction. Some attorneys do not allow their information to be posted on the online lookup, in that case you would have to call the bar to confirm that s/he is licensed. I assumed you meant more than "case" in the legal sense above. For instance, if you want a Patent, you would need someone licensed to the Pat Bar. Cases they have worked on: You can use Google Scholar and select Case Law / the Jurisdiction you are concerned with and search for their name exactly (I would also limit the time frame.) The attorneys for each side are listed at the top. Some of the large cases have multiple pages of attorneys with their name on the case. Alternatively, if you have a subscription service to WestLaw Next, Bloomberg Law, or LexisNexis you can lookup the attorney and see case information as well, as well as court documents they have submitted in various cases - this allows you to get a glimpse of their writing style. Alternatively, you can visit your local law school's law library and, if they have public access, use the public terminals (at least my law school has these.).
Assuming that privilege applies, no Not all communications with your lawyer trigger privilege and if it doesn’t then the lawyer is not your lawyer and is under the same obligation to report as any other member of the public. If privilege does apply then they must keep your secrets. If they are defending you and you confess to the crime then they can: represent you if you plead guilty withdraw unless that would prejudice your defence continue to act providing that they do not: suggest someone else committed the offence set up a defence inconsistent with the confession they can: argue the prosecution has not made their case, that you are not guilty of the offence charged by reason of law, or argue for any other (non prohibited) reason that you should not be convicted.
This is a civil case, taking away your freedom is only for criminal offenses. Not paying your bills is not a criminal offense. It is up to the creditor to look for your assets, etc. A court can make you show up and answer questions about your assets and income. While you are in court the judge can make you give your gold watch to your creditor. Outside the parameters of the question there are circumstances like failure to pay child support when you do have the funds that can lead to incarceration. In some places you can be jailed for contempt of court if the court requires your presence to let the creditor have the ability to try to get access to your assets and you do not show up.
The official judgements do not reveal the funding for these lawyers; so where can I find this information? Nowhere. The commercial arrangements between lawyers and their clients are private and confidential like any other business transactions. You have no more right to know this then you do to know how your neighbour pays their mortgage. how could she have funded litigation in the EWHC and then EWCA before the UKSC? She may have rich parents or another benefactor who has in interest in her or the outcome of the case. She may have won the lottery. She may be the heiress of a dead rich uncle. By the way, "having" student loans does not mean you "need" student loans. Interest rates on student loans are cheap - if I need to pay $10,000 for a course and have $10,000 earning 5%, I would be nuts to use that if I could take out a loan at 3%.
It's no fantastic legal source, and rules may vary in different countries, but from the Wikipedia article on Attorney client privilege: Lawyers may also breach the duty where they are defending themselves against disciplinary or legal proceedings. A client who initiates proceedings against a lawyer effectively waives rights to confidentiality. This is justified on grounds of procedural fairness—a lawyer unable to reveal information relating to the retainer would be unable to defend themselves against such action. In other words, if the client's lie is related to one of the lawyer's interests (for example, if the client sues the attorney for malpractice based on the advice he was given), the lawyer can break privilege on his own behalf, thus testifying that his client lied. As to the specific case you brought up, I would say that privilege wouldn't protect the client from the lawyer discussing things never brought up. In other words, we could force the attorney to testify, since one of two things is true: The attorney really did give him that advice, in which case the client has already voluntarily given up his right to confidentiality by describing what was said between them, or The lawyer never gave him that advice, and privilege wouldn't protect a conversation between the two that never transpired.