Bankruptcy Petition Preparers
The table above lists the number of cases in 2013 in which a bankruptcy petition preparer (BPP) met the requirement to disclose assistance with a bankruptcy filing. As evident from the table, reported BPP assistance, alone, constitutes over a quarter of the Court’s pro se filings. As discussed in more depth in last year’s report, the majority of BPPs do not disclose their involvement. Although the most common fee disclosed was $200, there have been numerous cases where a BPP has charged more than that. For example, it is not uncommon to encounter a debtor who has been charged $1,500 by a non-lawyer solely for the service of preparing a bankruptcy petition.
Especially when BPP fees may exceed that charged by attorneys, the presence of pro bonoresources and raising awareness of these resources are essential to ensuring those facing bankruptcy are actually able to obtain the best relief they are qualified to receive, which may only be possible with the attention of an actual attorney. The following map shows BPP use in relation to the number of pro se filings in the Los Angeles Division (charts have not been produced for other divisions).
