An attorney and his client came up with a novel, but ultimately unsuccessful, way to file immediately and pay attorneys' fees -- and nothing else.
In In re Buck, 2010 WL 2746217 (Bky.D.Mass. July 9, 2010), the problem for the Bucks was they couldn't pay the attorneys' fee of $2,000 for a Chapter 7 bankruptcy. They wanted immediate relief from the harrassing collection efforts they were subject to, but, understandably, their attorney wouldn't file for them until they paid his fee. So they agreed to file a Chapter 13, which cost $4,000, but those fees would be paid through the plan, at $130/month. This allowed them to file immediately. Sounded like a good plan.
That was until the bankruptcy court determined that the plan was not filed in good faith. It turns out that all of the Bucks' property was exempt and all of their debts were dischargeable in Chapter 7. As a result, no one other than the attorney would have received a distribution under the plan. The bankruptcy judge said that this was not a "good faith" plan, it exposed the debtors to 36 months of payments and delayed their discharge by that same time. As a result, he refused to confirm the plan. The Bucks converted to Chapter 7 and the court ordered that the attorney could not receive fees for either the Chapter 13 or the Chapter 7.
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