Schollander Law Offices

Focus and practice areas

Winston-Salem, North Carolina is home to this family-owned firm. Its main work is bankruptcy. The firm handles Chapter 7, Chapter 11, and Chapter 13 filings, and it selects among them based on a client's circumstances.

Bankruptcy has been the steady focus here for more than two decades, by the firm's own account. That kind of concentration matters in consumer debt work, where the rules run technical and the filing calendar leaves little room for error. In my opinion, a firm that files these three chapters often has seen the range of situations that lead people to each one.

The three chapters

Each chapter answers a different problem. Chapter 7 clears qualifying debts through liquidation and tends to move quickly. Chapter 13 sets up a repayment plan over a set period, which lets a filer keep property while catching up. Chapter 11 reorganizes debts and often suits a business that wants to keep operating. The firm lists all three on its practice pages, so a client can weigh the options before choosing one.

Work beyond bankruptcy

The firm also prepares simple divorces and separation agreements. It writes simple wills for people with straightforward estates. Schollander Law Offices says plainly that it may not suit contested divorces or complicated estates, which tells a prospective client where the boundary sits before the first meeting.

A simple will suits a person whose wishes are clear and whose estate does not raise thorny questions of tax or contested property. A separation agreement sets terms between spouses who agree on the main points. The firm keeps its family and estate work in that plainer territory and says as much on its pages.

How the team is built

Two attorneys carry the same name and the same firm. Wendell Schollander founded the office in the late 1980s and has worked with Winston-Salem clients on financial matters. Wes Schollander practices there as well.

The family-owned structure sets a certain tone. Both attorneys share the Schollander name, and the firm has stayed under it ever since. A client tends to deal with the same small group each visit, which can make a bankruptcy filing, with its many appointments and forms, easier to follow.

Wes Schollander's background

Wes Schollander joined the North Carolina bar in 2001. He earned his J.D. from Wake Forest University and taught as an adjunct professor at Wake Forest School of Law in 2009. That adjunct term meant explaining bankruptcy and related rules to law students, work that calls for a solid grasp of the material. His own experience runs wider than the firm's core menu and covers bankruptcy, family law, criminal law, and traffic court.

He belongs to the Forsyth County and North Carolina Bar Associations and to the National Association of Consumer Bankruptcy Attorneys, a national group of lawyers who work in consumer bankruptcy. That last membership lines up with the firm's daily focus.

Language and access

Wes Schollander speaks Spanish, and bilingual capacity is not a small thing in bankruptcy. The forms ask for exact figures on income, debts, and property, and a misread question can slow a case. As a reviewer, I read his Spanish as a practical point for the Spanish-speaking households across the Piedmont Triad, who can then go over those forms without a translator.

Where the firm works

The office sits in Winston-Salem and takes clients from a wide ring of nearby towns. That reach includes Advance, Clemmons, Kernersville, King, and Lewisville. It also covers Lexington, Mocksville, Mount Airy, Pinnacle, Thomasville, Walkertown, and Yadkinville.

A service area this broad fits the work the firm does. Bankruptcy and estate clients often come from small towns without a local bankruptcy office, so a Winston-Salem base within driving distance helps them keep appointments and hand over documents. The city also holds Wake Forest University, where Wes Schollander studied and later taught, so his professional roots and the firm's address share the same ground.

Staying in one metro area for this long tends to build local knowledge. A lawyer who has practiced in the same region for decades knows the local courts and the rhythms of filing there. For a bankruptcy client, that familiarity with the North Carolina venue can ease an already stressful process.

What the record shows

The firm keeps its stated scope narrow and describes it in plain terms. It names the three bankruptcy chapters it files. It states the family and estate matters it takes.

That candor counts for something to a reader weighing options. A firm that tells you up front it handles simple wills and simple divorces sets an honest expectation. In my opinion, matching the work to the right client early saves both sides time.

Schollander Law Offices is a small, family-run firm with a clear center of gravity in consumer bankruptcy and a steady hand in basic family and estate paperwork. Wes Schollander's membership in a national consumer bankruptcy group and his teaching term at Wake Forest give the bankruptcy side a visible grounding. The founder's start in the late 1980s puts a long run behind the name.