When is the right time to seek advice from a bankruptcy attorney? The answer is before you start making decisions that are beyond your usual comfort zone. Before you take monies out your 401k to pay your credit card bills. Before you borrow money from friends or family to pay a mortgage on a home that’s under water. Before you inherit moneys from family.
When potential bankruptcy clients call us they are often making decisions that can be detrimental to their financial health, and often their emotional health is suffering because of this. We are not licensed to help with the emotional health, but we can help tremendously with your financial situation and bankruptcy.
When Do Clients Need To Seek Advice of a Bankruptcy Lawyer?
Are creditors initiating collection procedures? Are they filing lawsuits against you? Is your mortgage lender in the process of foreclosure? Often our clients have been ignoring the problems for some time. Often the trauma of a lost job or financial hit at an inopportune time results in an inability to pay the creditors. And often there is just no way to ever catch up. Or no foreseeable way.
Bankruptcies stop foreclosures and lawsuits against debtors, but, just as importantly, they allow you to discharge your consumer debts. Bankruptcy planning before making financial decisions is important. Undertaking those decisions with an experienced bankruptcy lawyer is important and recommended.
What Does the Bankruptcy Law Do for Me?
What is amazing about the bankruptcy laws is that they really do offer a “fresh start” for all who qualify. And, while qualifying is harder than before the 2005 Bankruptcy Abuse and Prevention and Consumer Protection Act was put into law, almost all of our clients still qualify.
Bankruptcy laws usually enable you to keep your home if you can afford the mortgage and protect it with the Homestead Act. This may require filing a homestead and may require that you file using the state exemptions, which can be more limiting than the federal exemptions.
Bankruptcy laws enable you to keep your 401k or Rollover IRA accounts. This is critical as there are diminishing corporate pensions these days. Even if you have a state or city pension, you can still file for bankruptcy and protect your assets.
Seek The Advice of an Experienced Bankruptcy Lawyer
There is no substitute. Doing it yourself, even if you think you can use the internet to learn the law, you are likely to miss something. Would you diagnosis yourself before surgery? An experienced bankruptcy lawyer will find exemptions, prepare your Petition and Schedules accurately, file amendments if necessary, prepare you for the Creditor’s Hearing in Bankruptcy Court, and follow up with filing the financial management document after the hearing.
I have been practicing law since 1985. That’s a lot of bankruptcy experience. This year alone we helped a client discharge several million dollars in IRS debt, helped another client who wanted to resolve all their debt before retiring, helped another client who was laid off and just couldn’t keep up with the escalating credit card bills, helped a client whose spouse put everything in their name just as business as heading south, and helped a client who “inherited” all the debt in a divorce.
If you have questions, call us for a free consultation. Get bankruptcy advice from someone with experience, who cares and who will get your debts discharged and get you the “fresh start” that you deserve under the law. Call Neil Burns at 617-227-7423.
