Bankruptcy

Exhaust your Options Before Bankruptcy, Sure, But Not Your Savings! When to Talk to A Bankruptcy Attorney, Before or After all your Savings are Gone?

By Joseph McDaniel, Esq.

Some folks can negotiate some deals with some creditors.

I have not found commercial non-lawyer negotiation companies that consistently provide good results to clients, so I don't refer to any at this time; but if I find one that provides a consistent good outcome as an alternative to filing a bankruptcy, I'll certainly pass that information along.

On the other hand, I know about a lot of horrible negotiations places, and then there are the horror stories I hear about bankruptcy mills that process hundreds of debtors a month like....people being processed.

But this much is certain: if there is one suggestion I'd like to see written on a skyscraper in huge letters, it is that a person having trouble with creditors should seek bankruptcy advice and information in Arizona and elsewhere BEFORE they exhaust their savings vehicles, like 401(k) plans.

I wish I had a nickle for every time a potential client started a conversation with me by saying brightly, "Well, I spent every dollar in all my retirement accounts making minimum payments on my credit cards! So I guess I ought to think about a bankruptcy now!"

EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEKKK!

That's a wrong sequence of events.

If you can't pay your credit cards or other debts out of your income from whatever source, DO NOT dip into your 401(k), which will under many circumstances be exempt in your bankruptcy, to make payments to creditors which will only buy short-term relief from anxiety.

Track down the best and best-credentialed bankruptcy attorney you can find in Arizona who is willing to work for ordinary human beings (that is, find the best-qualified, most experienced and most capable bankruptcy lawyer in Arizona that you can who is not busy working for either banks or trustees, because those will have conflicts).

And find out what your bankruptcy options may be; and your non-bankruptcy options.

Do it before you're broke.

The tissues on my desk get used by clients, sure.

But not only by clients.

NOTHING HERE CONSTITUTES LEGAL ADVICE RE A CHAPTER 7, CHAPTER 13, CHAPTER 11, OR CHAPTER 12. FIND AN ARIZONA BANKRUPTCY LAWYER WHO IS BOARD CERTIFIED IN BANKRUPTCY LAW, AV RATED, AVVO 10 RATED, ON SUPERLAWYERS, OR JUST VERY EXPERIENCED AND A FORMER CHAIR OF SOME BANKRUPTCY SECTION OR COMMITTEE. NOTHING HERE MAY BE USED AS LEGAL ADVICE IN CONNECTION WITH ANY BANKRUPTCY, WHETHER THAT BANKRUPTCY IS IN PHOENIX, GLENDALE, TEMPE, MESA, SCOTTSDALE, OR ANYWHERE ELSE.

Full post as published by Arizona Bankruptcy Attorney Blog on June 22, 2010 (boomark / email).