What was the situation that warranted you originally filing a Chapter 13 as opposed to a Chapter 7? And what is the situation currently that makes you wish to continue with the Chapter 13? If you simply want to pursue a Chapter 7 at this point in order to discharge your unsecured debts, you do not need to "file" a Chapter 7. Rather, you can convert to a Chapter 7. This means that you would not need to retake the credit counseling course or prepare a new bankruptcy petition. You also would not need to pay a new court filing fee. You could simply convert to a Chapter 7 which entails a $25 filing fee. You would then simply need to attend a new 341 meeting (since the one you previously attended was for a Chapter 13, not 7). Therefore, the legal fee to convert is typically much less than filing a Chapter 7 from scratch, because you do not need to start from scratch. Most of the additional work entails attending the new 341 meeting. Your current attorney is entitled to a fee for the additional work to convert, since he apparently did conclude all work for the Chapter 13 for which he was paid. Was the $1,250 for a conversion, or for a Chapter 7 from scratch? A conversion should be considered, at an appropriately reduced fee since much of the work is already done. There may be reasons why a new filing is preferable to a conversion. I would be glad to evaluate this for you if you wish to call me.

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