Since the bankruptcy reform laws were passed in 2005 you will see a lot of lawyers stating that they are a “debt relief agency”. Why is that so, and what does that mean?
Under 11 U.S.C. § 101 a debt relief agency is defined simply as “any person who provides any bankruptcy assistance to an assisted person in return for the payment of money or other valuable consideration, or who is a bankruptcy petition preparer”.
The term “person” is generally believed to include an individual, partnership, corporation, but is not intended to include or mean a governmental unit”.
There has been much debate as to whether attorneys or lawyers should list themselves as a debt relief agency. So decisions handed down by bankruptcy judges, for example, state that attorneys do not have to comply with this rule. But, out of an abundance of caution, which is always best, please note that J. Brian Allen does list himself as a debt relief agency.