PI Settlement before or after filing? Getting mixed advice from lawyers.

(Sorry this is so long)

Short story: I will soon be filing Ch7 and live in a state (MO) that does not allows any exemptions from settlements. None. My settlement isn't huge, well huge in regards to the amount of debt I will be discharging at least (so it wont pay them off). It should be about 20k in my pocket after my lawyers cut. I could go on and on about how I got into my situation but I am sure no one wants to hear it (common loss of income etc). So far I have met with two different BK attorney's over the past few weeks and both gave me contridicting answers / advice. Here is a short breakdown:

Laywer One: Take the settlement BEFORE filing bankruptcy. Spend the money prior. It doesn't matter on what as long as it's not to unsecured creditors, friends, family etc. However I do advise using the money on "life essentials" over lavish trips. And it might be a good idea to keep reciepts and a simple log on what you used it on. For instance home repairs, auto repairs etc.



Lawyer Two: Do not take the settlement BEFORE filing. Have it settled after we get you filed and I can work out a "deal" with the (I believe) trustee. I know both of the ones in our district and they commonly allow people to keep 50% of their settlements. Mostly due to the fact that they end up with money in their pockets.

I pushed the question with lawyer number two in regards to making sure it was long gone prior (I think he thought I was going to toss it in savings). He then kind of paused and seemed a bit "unsure". And again advised I just settled after.

So I dropped into another forum and asked the same questions and it was pretty universal that I should settle prior and spend the money of living essentials only. And a few people mentioned paying all of the unsecured creditors a little money our of it to ward them off a bit longer (avoiding being sued). Since almost all of them have now sent "deals" of pay X now and be caught up (which isn't much). This would allow me to have more time to use the settlement and make it look like I was trying to get on track.


Anyhow I wanted to find another resource to ask the question to gather more input. My personal injury attorney isn't familiar with this process and is waiting on me to find out what I want to do (we are about to settle).

Thank you guys!