Bankruptcy Legal Malpractice?

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Q. My husband filed Ch. 13 in August of 1999. He had about 100,000 in student loan debt and 1,300 in credit card debt. His attorney told him that the laws were changing and his student loans *might* be discharged. His attorney gave him the impression that he would be better off when the BK was done. The gov't. loans were easy to consolidate and deal with. Now, we have private loans that are not so easy (now about 200,000) to deal with. We just want to resume payments and get on with our lives, but the creditors will have nothing to do with it. Should this lawyer have advised my husband to file bankruptcy knowing that all he had was student loans? He would not have filed if not for the student loans. My husband said he turned over his money and never saw him again. :( Can you sue for bad (life altering!!) advice? Please understand the original intent was not to have the loans discharged, but to "reorganize" and begin making enough money to pay the loans! BTW, all Ch 13 payments paid on time, each and every month for five years.

A. I've understood that student loans have been in a class that were not able to be discharged. that was in 1999 as it is today. the problem you are faced with is one of proving the attorney told you they could be. if you have a signed document from him stating such you might have a good case, otherwise it's a big problem. i think anybody who did moderate research on their own could determine that student loans are in a class that can not be discharged so I'd suggest that both you and your husband have a lot of explaining to do anyway. I understand this. The problem I am having is did his attorney know, or should have known that filing bankruptcy with just student loans would not be beneficial to my husband in anyway and should he have advised him against it? I'm curious what you think we have to explain. My husband had an income of about 1,000 per month, private loans in excess of that amount, and no way to pay them. Your biggest problem at this point is that the advice was given in 1999, and it is now 7 years later. There might be statute of limitations issues. The fact that this was a "student loan bankruptcy" would be obvious, given the numbers. However, I have put some folks into a Chapter 13 even though student loans wouldn't be discharged just so that they can stop a garnishment or attachment. I would suggest speaking with a legal malpractice attorney. I'd have to say yes, the attorney did know or should have known and should have informed your husband that the loans probably would not be discharged. But it seems the attorney only said your husband would be "better off" and some might think that since the bankruptcy did discharge some of his debt that he did end up "better off". What I can't understand is why neither of you knew without consulting the attorney that the student loans were non-dischargable, like I said in my first post anyone who cared to do a couple hours research on their own could determine this. That's what I meant by explain. As for the attorney supposedly saying the laws are "changing" and the loans "might" be covered, to me those are the words of a shyster. As with anything, buyer beware.

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