Someone used the phrase “cheap SC bankruptcy lawyers” to find my site this weekend. I’m not sure whether to be offended or pleased that my SEO* efforts are working! Just kidding. While I market myself, as every attorney must, on the basis of my strengths, I steadfastly refuse to compete with my fellow attorneys on the basis of price.

The simple fact is that most debtors’ attorneys charge similar rates - certainly not out of any agreement to do so (that would violate antitrust laws), but simply because the market tends to be uniform (there’s only one district in SC, though there is more than one division) and the services tend to be similar as well.

The real difference in bankruptcy services is between bankruptcy lawyers - those individuals licensed to practice law who dedicate part or all of their practice to representing consumer bankruptcy debtors - and bankruptcy petition preparers. I’ve blogged about this difference before but basically, the difference is in the type of service you get. Sure, a petition preparer will charge you a lot less than a lawyer will - that’s because the preparer can only give you, by law, much less service. Preparers are forbidden from giving you legal advice.

Guess what you need most of all - especially in this post-BAPCPA climate? That’s right. Legal advice. Want to know how to exempt your savings, or whether you can? That’s legal advice. How to save the family home? Legal advice. Whether you can pay back your family members before filing and what the trustee’s response is likely to be? Legal advice.

What’s the old adage? “Penny wise, pound foolish”? It means that sometimes, we’re so eager to save a little bit up front that we neglect to note that in saving that penny, we’re ultimately risking a much larger loss down the road.

*SEO = Search Engine Optimization