In bankruptcy, either Chapter 7 or 13, there is a counseling requirement – one \u00a0course that must be taken before the case is filed and another that must be taken before the case can be discharged.<\/p>\n
One of the things that keeps me awake at night is the possibility that one of my clients might miss the deadline for the second course and have their discharge refused as a result. \u00a0I ask my clients to please have the second course done by the time of the meeting of creditors, which is about a month after filing.<\/p>\n
If the second course is not done by then, I keep track of that fact by moving the file to my “drawer of shame.” \u00a0It has a big label on it in red letters. \u00a0My goal then is to bug those clients until the second course is done. \u00a0It would be a terrible shame to have a case that is otherwise going well fail because of that. \u00a0One time it was actually down to the last 24 hours before my client got it done. \u00a0That one had me actually calling my client’s mother.<\/p>\n
I’ve never had a case where a client has actually missed the deadline. \u00a0The lawyers I know who have clients that have missed it tell me that every one of them blames the lawyer, even though the lawyer sent all kinds of reminders.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
In bankruptcy, either Chapter 7 or 13, there is a counseling requirement – one \u00a0course that must be taken before the case is filed and another that must be taken before the case can be discharged. One of the things that keeps me awake at night is the possibility that one of my clients might … <\/p>\n