Why Fresh Slate exists.

California has roughly 100,000 consumer bankruptcy filings a year. A no-asset Chapter 7 in San Diego County typically costs $1,500 to $3,000 in attorney fees — plus the $338 court filing fee. For the working family that just lost a job, paid down savings on medical bills, or got buried in credit-card minimums, that's the kind of money they don't have. It's a legal right designed for honest people to get a fresh start, but the price tag locks the people who most need it out of using it.

The alternatives are worse. Bankruptcy petition preparers ("BPPs") — non-attorneys allowed under 11 U.S.C. § 110 to type up forms — are barred from giving any legal advice, which leaves filers making real decisions blind. Debt-settlement companies take 20–25% of "settled" debt as fees, can't stop creditor lawsuits during the process, and often leave clients with surprise tax bills on forgiven debt. Free legal aid is wonderful but capacity-constrained and usually income-tested. Filing pro se (yourself, no help at all) is legal but has a high error rate — most pro se filers either get their case dismissed or lose exemptions they would have kept with proper planning.

Fresh Slate replaces the paralegal-intake step of a normal bankruptcy engagement with a guided, plain-language web interview. You answer about 30 questions across 7 sections. The tool runs the official means-test math, applies California exemptions, and generates your actual court forms.

But the part that makes this different — and legally compliant — is the attorney review. Eugenio Ramos, Esq. (California Bar #261964, admitted 2009) personally reviews every Fresh Slate filing before it goes to court. Flat $100. If you decide to retain Eugenio to actually file and represent you at the 341 meeting, that $100 applies to his retainer. If you'd rather take the filing and file pro se after the review, you can do that too — the work product is yours.

We aren't a chatbot pretending to be a lawyer. We aren't a form-filling service hoping you'll figure out the law. We're a self-serve intake interview attached to a real attorney's review queue, sold at a price point that matches the legal complexity of a simple case.

California prohibits the unauthorized practice of law (Bus. & Prof. Code § 6125). The 11 U.S.C. § 110 carve-out for BPPs is narrow: they can type, but they can't advise, can't pick exemptions, can't explain options. Most "DIY bankruptcy software" works around this by simply not advising — which is exactly the gap that gets users in trouble.

Fresh Slate solves it by putting a licensed attorney in the loop. Eugenio reviews the filing, catches the exemption mistakes, and signs off (or kicks it back for more information) before anything reaches a court. The $100 covers his review time. Setting that fee any lower would make the model uneconomic; setting it any higher would defeat the purpose. $100 is the floor that lets us keep the lights on while still being radically cheaper than a full engagement.

Fresh Slate handles the simplest Chapter 7 cases only: single filers (no joint with spouse), California residents, renters (no real estate equity to protect), mostly unsecured debt (credit cards, medical bills, personal loans), no pending lawsuits or active wage garnishments, no bankruptcy filed in the last 8 years, no business ownership. The 7-question gate at the start of the funnel makes that call up front — we'd rather route you to a free consultation than have you waste time on a tool that won't work for your situation.

If you fall outside those constraints — own a home, have a co-debtor spouse, are facing imminent foreclosure or repossession, are being actively sued or garnished, or run a business with creditors — you need an attorney, not a self-serve tool. The good news is the free consultation is the same first step. You just skip the intake interview because Eugenio does it with you on the phone.

There are a handful of national "DIY bankruptcy" services (Upsolve is the largest and best-known, doing non-asset Chapter 7 filings for free in many states). They serve a critical mission and we admire the work. The gap Fresh Slate fills is California-specific: California has its own exemption systems (704 vs. 703 election), county-by-county trustee variation, and Southern District-specific local rules that benefit enormously from a California-licensed attorney's review. National free tools route users to the bar's pro bono list when local complexity shows up; Fresh Slate keeps that complexity inside the engagement.

We also work with — not against — pro bono legal aid. If you qualify for free legal aid based on income, that's almost always the right answer and we'll tell you so. Fresh Slate is for people who are above the legal-aid income threshold but still can't reasonably afford full attorney fees. That gap is wide in California's high-cost-of-living counties.