As of November 1, 2011, it seems that the Bankruptcy Court is taking a cue from ….. Banks! It is posting a fee increase. Various services, including new petitions, motions to lift stay, changes in creditor lists and in schedules (ugh), and even NSF check charges, have gone up. Now, the petition amounts have risen only $7 each, to $281 for a Chapter 13 and $306 for a Chapter 7, approximately a 3% increase. The charge for amendments has risen over 15%, from $26 to $30. That’s a killer fee, when it penalizes corrections, as opposed to the filing fee, which does confer protection on the debtor.
The new fees are at new fees .
In order to put this in perspective, I went through the office checkbook software to look for the amount of filing fees in, say, the ’90′s. It looks like entries from about ’94 to ’98 were either $150 or $160 each, for Chapter 7′s or 13′s. This change in the amount ends up being almost double the amounts of 15 years ago. I would usually reflect that our attorney’s fees had not gone up – but I can’t. I think ours are about double, but that is mainly for the changes of 2005, and additional efforts required to protect a debtor, case and plan. So, they say “it takes money to make money”, and to protect yourself when you don’t have money, as well.
David Bosworth
www.mysanantoniolawyer.com
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