Article written by Florence, SC Bankruptcy attorney Daniel Stone Sometimes I have potential bankruptcy clients ask me, “why do I need an attorney to file for bankruptcy”? The legal answer is that you don’t, but as I am about to show you, the practical answer is you better have one. The data has been accumulated from the United States Bankruptcy Court Clerk’s office here in Columbia and goes back to 2006. In Chapter 13 bankruptcy cases where pro se filers filed their own cases, if the filers ultimately retained a bankruptcy attorney, their Chapter 13 had close to a 74% chance of being confirmed by the Court. Conversely, if the pro se filer failed to listen to the admonition of the Bankruptcy Court and continued to represent themselves, the chance of a successful plan confirmation dwindled down to approximately 2%! This is strong empirical data to show that a bankruptcy attorney is worth the money if you are going to file a bankruptcy case. The data also shows that Pro Se filers have a high likelihood of having their bankruptcy case being dismissed for failing to have documents filed, failing to file a confirmable chapter 13 plan, and for other reasons. If you are contemplating filing a Chapter 13 bankruptcy, please feel free to call me to set up a free consultation.