Bankruptcy

There is No "Easy Button" for a Bankruptcy in Arizona; There is No "Instant Bankruptcy Button" for an Arizona Bankruptcy. It's a Process; Takes Work!!

By Joseph McDaniel, Esq.

Bankruptcy is a process.

It was lot faster in Italy, where the word came from: "banco rotto", or broken bench. If you did business in the city square, on a banco (bench), and you didn't pay your creditors, they broke your bench.

And maybe your kneecaps; history is silent on that point.

Nowadays, the process involves neither breaking your bench, nor your kneecaps.

It is, however, a process.

A substantial number of people, and very smart and decent people at that, just want their bankruptcy to be over.

"I Just Want This Bankruptcy to be Over!"

Sadly, they often say that the first time they meet with me, and it just doesn't work that way.

Bankruptcy involves a bunch of decisions that must be made by the client, not the lawyer; and that may involve educating the client, whether you want to be educated or not. Sorry.

I can't decide for you whether you want to sell your non-exempt car to buy food for your kids, or whether you want to give it to the bankruptcy trustee after you file. You have to decide that.

I can't file a bankruptcy for you unless you list your debts and your assets and your transactions; all of 'em.

Can't.

Would love to.

Can't.

You, for your part, have to make a decision to file a bankruptcy, and for heaven's sake make that decision before you burn through your IRA or your 401(k), okay?

Okay?

And once you make that decision, you have to decide whether to hire a bankruptcy lawyer in front of me or a frontal lobotomy.

Sorry, wrong topic; but close!

But there is a pretty involved decision tree involved in trying to get you a decent result in your Chapter 7, Chapter 13, Chapter 11 or Chapter 12 in Arizona.

I haven't done any Chapter 9 Bankruptcy cases yet, but I look forward to it. Probably be interesting.

But in your case, after you decide to file, you have to decide whether you want to file now, or to wait another six months so that the preference payment you made to mom won't be a problem for mom. And you have to decide to wait at least 90 days after your last substantial use of your credit cards.

And don't get cute. The bankruptcy trustees in Arizona don't like cute. Neither do Banks.

So don't try to rack up your credit cards to the maximum prior to filing and then wait 91 days to file. Or 92 or 93. The 90 day period is just a presumption. You can't rob from the bank like Jessie James and expect a loving reception at the First Meeting of Creditors or the 2004 Exam scheduled for you by the bank lawyers.

On the other hand, if you're an honest debtor with overwhelming debt, and sleepless nights, and endless phone calls from credit card companies who tell you scary things so you'll have sleepless nights, then you probably have a bankruptcy in your future.

In specific, if your unsecured debt is about as much as you make in a year, there's an excellent chance that you'll be filing a bankruptcy of some sort, because the numbers just don't work.

Now we get to figure out how good a result we can get for you.

But please don't wait too long to come see me; I'm a bankruptcy lawyer, but I don't like surplus suffering. And you'll be very angry with yourself if you blow through your 401(k) and your IRA prior to filing your bankruptcy case, and sadly, once you've made that specific mistake, I can't fix it for you.

I can file a bankruptcy case for you, although you may have to wait because you messed up your means test calculation by pulling money out of your retirement accounts.

But we'll figure that out when you drop in; and pretty please with sugar on it, do your homework assignments before you come in, because then you'll be able to answer my questions and we can get you closer to the bright, happy world of the bankruptcy discharge in Arizona!

And because I'm a bankruptcy attorney in Arizona, no, that's not a guarantee. As you'll recall, I don't guarantee that the sky is blue or the grass is green.

Because I'm a bankruptcy specialist in Arizona, and this ain't my first rodeo.

p.s. I don't want you to have the feeling of wind in your hair to make you happy; I want you to survive the bankruptcy process with as little pain as possible, and to keep as many of your assets as possible, and discharge as many debts as possible.

And if I have to make you suffer a little to get there, oh, well. Kinda like being a dentist, I suppose.

But I wish they made bankruptcy novacaine for the poor debtor.

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 July 22, 2010 (boomark / email).