Bankruptcy Attorney in Santa Clarita – 11 Ways We’re the Best

When researching the best bankruptcy attorney in Santa Clarita, here are some key factors showing why we’re the best choice. How do you pick the best bankruptcy attorney in Santa Clarita CA? Many are impersonal conglomerates with a temporary local bankruptcy lawyer office in the area. Some aren’t even bankruptcy lawyers. But if you’re in the SCV, here’s a handy guide and checklist on what to look for in a bankruptcy attorney in Santa Clarita.

(spoiler alert: it’s us)

Award-Winning

First, you’ll want to inquire if they’ve won any awards as the best local bankruptcy lawyer. There are a lot of people who can call themselves a bankruptcy attorney in Santa Clarita CA. But only the cream of the crop can claim to have been voted the best bankruptcy lawyer by satisfied clients. Hale Antico has won four best bankruptcy lawyer awards, including 2017 best bankruptcy attorney in Santa Clarita CA by readers of the SCV Signal.

Honesty & Integrity

Next, we’ll tell you what you need to hear, not what you want to hear. We’re honest, straightforward, and direct. With a smile.

We don’t deceive with unrealistic cheap bankruptcy fees to get you in the door. First, we take the time to learn your unique situation. Then, we’ll quote you a price. No bait-and-switch. No one-fee-fits-all.

We’re not Earl Scheib, and you’re not looking for a cheap paint job. Being honored to be voted Best bankruptcy attorney in Santa Clarita CA is a result of treating people honestly, warmly, and with respect.

Great Reviews

A big part of customer service is finding out what past clients said about the service. You’re going to want Santa Clarita bankruptcy lawyers who have high average ratings from Avvo, Yelp, and Google reviews.

And we are blessed that our clients love us.

Reviews are not something any business can buy, though some offer incentives. We don’t. We just figure if you do the right thing and take care of folks, they’ll want to share the good experience with their friends and neighbors.

Local

A bankruptcy attorney in Santa Clarita isn’t a megafirm

Do you want to be just a number in a megafirm? Or get personalized service from a niche bankruptcy lawyer near you? While many market to the 661 area code, they really can’t be a bankruptcy attorney in Santa Clarita CA unless they’re really a local bankruptcy lawyer.

That is, where is their law firm headquarters? How many satellite offices are there? How many days a week is the bankruptcy attorney in the SCV? Did they grow up in Santa Clarita? Do they even live here?

Bankruptcy is a process that takes months, in many cases it takes years. You want a relationship with someone who understands you, who is a local bankruptcy attorney. You’re going to want someone who is a Santa Clarita resident, who isn’t down in Wilshire or Downey or some other faraway land.

Hale Antico, bankruptcy attorney in Santa Clarita CA, has lived in the SCV since 1975. He went to high school locally. He’s practiced here exclusively. He’s truly someone who can say is a bankruptcy attorney near me, well, you.

A Bankruptcy Lawyer who knows Santa Clarita

You’d be surprised how many bankruptcy law firms just work on volume, plopping an office in every area of Los Angeles.

This way, they appear they’re a local bankruptcy lawyer, but truth is, it’s just a high-volume bankruptcy mill where you’re just a number. Ask them how many offices their law firm has, or if they have only one office off the 14 freeway.

Unlike other results for “santa clarita bankruptcy” we’re local to the SCV, not someone from Los Angeles who is trying to pretend like they’re a Valencia bankruptcy lawyer by having a URL with local search keywords in it. We have a 661 phone number right on the top of this page.

We know that the city logo shouldn’t feature just an serene oak tree. It should also have a bulldozer, and traffic with taillights backed up for miles on Soledad Canyon Road.

We remember when looking north you’d see the Mustang drive-in, not jumbled solar panels on a hill. The Newhall Plaza showed first-run movies. Saugus Swap Meet was actually busy as the only “mall,” and you could hear the Saugus Speedway every Saturday from April to October.

When you call us, you’ll ring a local 661 office open daily you can visit without an appt just off the Antelope Valley Freeway, and not an operator at some toll-free number transferring your call to some faraway place in Orange County.

Do Away with Dabblers

It may go without saying, but to be one of the people you’d consider helping you be your bankruptcy attorney in Santa Clarita CA, that they’re actually a bankruptcy lawyer. That is, anyone can do a bankruptcy case.

But is it their specialty, or are they just a dabbler? Is it really their core business model, or does the law firm take bankruptcy cases because it doesn’t want to turn them away?

Bankruptcy is a very nuanced and specialized area of law. There are lots of twists and turns, nooks and crannies. There’s the federal bankruptcy code, then there are state laws that come into play, local rules, and local local rules about what each bankruptcy judge and trustee expects.

A dabbler just won’t know all of these, and as a result, their clients will suffer.

So you’ll want to ask: “of all the bankruptcy attorneys near me, how much of your law practice is actually, you know, bankruptcy?” If the answer is under 80%, the law firm is probably not one of Santa Clarita bankruptcy attorneys, but just a Santa Clarita lawyer who will do them for the money.

The Antico Law Firm handles only bankruptcy cases, it’s all we do, all we know. 100% of our cases are bankruptcy and helping people get out of debt.

Customer Service

We pride ourselves on customer service, but not all law firms think the same. You’re going to want to know: do they treat you like a you’re a number, or like a person?

Ask: is the lawyer you meet for the consultation different from the one who does the petition preparation, which is different from the person who meets you down at the court hearing?

Will you be greeted at their 341a Meeting, where you’re put under oath, by the same attorney who met you at the consult and made the sale, or a stranger holding your name over their head like a driver at the airport?

READ: The 341(a) Meeting of Creditors

Most Santa Clarita bankruptcy lawyers don’t bother to drive two hours each way and lose half a day. They just get another bankruptcy attorney who you never met before to stand in for them.

So while you’re sweating it out at your only court hearing, many other bankruptcy attorneys in Santa Clarita are back at their office getting work done or pursuing new clients.

We prefer to take care of our existing clients than chase new ones. That’s customer service. At Antico Debt Law, the same compassionate bankruptcy attorney who you meet at the consultation will be the same one at the petition signing appointment.

The bankruptcy attorney in Santa Clarita CA you met for the consultation will be the same caring bankruptcy lawyer who meets you downtown when you testify.

That’s customer service.

Caring and Compassionate

A lot of other places are cold, or worse, judgmental. We try to be different. You’re a name, a person with a story. We’ll know who you are when you call, and won’t judge you.

Instead, we try to be warm and caring while providing specific expertise and legal solutions to help you start over.

We provide debt solutions for wiping all debt away, or arranging a debt consolidation option based on only what you can afford, while protecting you from lawsuits. All done with patience, compassion, and experience.

Experienced

To find if the bankruptcy attorney in Santa Clarita is the best fit for you, ask how long they’ve been practicing exclusively bankruptcy. Did they just get into bankruptcy full-time recently because of the 2020 coronavirus to make a quick buck? Or have they been a Santa Clarita bankruptcy lawyer even during the great economy from 2013-2019.

You don’t want a johnny-come-lately, but a qualified, experienced attorney who’s handled bk cases for years. Not only does this help you benefit from our experience in thousands of cases. It helps you discern motivation. Because let’s face it: when the economy was great, many lawyers left the bankruptcy field, leaving only diehard professionals. You want one of those.

Record of Success

An experienced bankruptcy attorney will also be successful. This makes sense because the more you do something, the more you know what works, and where the danger spots are. Ask the Santa Clarita bankruptcy attorney what their success rate is. They’ll say their Chapter 7 success rate is high if they do lots of these. But ask how many Chapter 7 cases in the past year we not successful? Last two years? Five?

More importantly, a successful bankruptcy attorney in Santa Clarita CA can’t practice this field unless they also file Chapter 13 bankruptcy cases. Ask what their Chapter 13 success rate is. These are hard cases to get to the finish line. Yet, Antico Debt Law can boast of a Chapter 13 success rate that is 20 times higher than the local average.

Best Bankruptcy Attorney in Santa Clarita is … an Attorney

Beware of paralegals. The best bankruptcy attorney in Santa Clarita CA should be an award winner. They should be devoted to this specialty. Of course, it’s a plus if they’re local to the Santa Clarita Valley. One should also provide stupendous customer service. They should be involved in the bankruptcy law community. And yes, the person helping you with your bankruptcy case should be a licensed bankruptcy lawyer.

It’s true that you don’t need a lawyer to file bankruptcy. However, for a once-in-a-lifetime procedure, you wouldn’t want an almost-doctor to perform surgery on you. And while bankruptcy is “just forms,” you can lose your business, lose your house, and the FBI investigates bankruptcy crimes. It makes sense to let a professional be your guide to ensure success.

Involved in Community

Teaching others bankruptcy lawyers

Even if the local bankruptcy lawyer you’re meeting with checks these boxes, are they an island, or are they involved in the bankruptcy attorney community?

That’s right, there’s a fellowship of bankruptcy lawyers. There aren’t really that many of us that specialize in consumer debt law, so it’s really a small world.

Does the bankruptcy lawyer just sit at their office, or do they try to give back? Do they volunteer? Have they ever participated in MCLE panels to teach other attorneys? How many boards of directors of bankruptcy lawyer groups have they served on?

President of Los Angeles Bankruptcy Attorneys’ group

Some of the top bankruptcy attorneys in Los Angeles chose Attorney Antico to serve as the 2020 and 2021 President of the nation’s second-largest association of consumer debt lawyers (the national one is the biggest).

His peers humbled him to be selected from among highly qualified bankruptcy attorneys in the Los Angeles area to lead the organization which is respected for its accomplishments in helping debtors and improve the practice of bankruptcy law.

Prior to that, he served the CDCBAA on its board of directors for over 10 years.

President of Bankruptcy Inn of Court

Even more, he also served on the board of directors of an Inn of Court in the Los Angeles area.  Bankruptcy judges and trustees and attorneys from the Southern California Inn of Court selected Mr. Antico to be President of that organization as well.

Our law firm actively contributes to the Los Angeles County bankruptcy community. This enriches not only the service we provide, but also the information and knowledge we get. And this, then, allows us to better serve our clients as one of the best Santa Clarita bankruptcy attorneys.

Summing up: We tick all the boxes to be the best

For all these reasons, there is really one obvious choice. Attorney Antico is an award-winning bankruptcy attorney in Santa Clarita.  He’s honest with integrity, and will tell you what you need to hear in plain simple terms and not talk over your head. He’s a local bankruptcy lawyer.

Further, he’s not a dabbler.  Attorney Antico specializes in bankruptcy, and focuses on this complicated area of law like a laser beam. All of this expertise, and yet still has a heart for customer service, and won’t leave you stranded at court with a stranger, but will be there for you.

Also, Hale Antico has experience, and has a very high success rate. He has been doing this for decades, and didn’t jump into bankruptcy lately just to make money off people hurt by the coronavirus quarantine. A licensed attorney, and one that has been elevated by other attorneys to be President of not one, but two respected bankruptcy organizations.

All together, these are why Attorney Antico is the best bankruptcy attorney in Santa Clarita CA. For these many reasons, it’s why he should be yours, too.

I’d be humbled if you allowed me to help you.