Bankruptcy

Don't Wait Too Long, Right? Changed Circumstances Can Change Your Ability to file a Chapter 7 Bankruptcy! Don't Shoot Yourself in the Means Test!

By Joseph McDaniel, Esq.

Look, if you go see a doctor about the little bump on your elbow, and he says, "No problem, we see these a lot; make an appointment and we'll do it in the office", you really ought to make an appointment soon to see the doc and get it taken off.

You wouldn't wait for a year or two to get that funky, suspicious looking thingie chopped off by the doc, right? Because it could change, right?

Right?

So if you see an Arizona bankruptcy attorney and he says, "Looks like you currently make it under the limbo bar that is the Means Test; we can file for you", it's similar to the situation with the doctor and the funky bump.

You wouldn't wait a year to go back to see the doc after your first diagnosis; the darn thing would metastasize!

It's about the same with a bankruptcy means test diagnosis.

If you see an Arizona bankruptcy lawyer and it looks like you can file, you maybe should get your rear in gear.

I understand, and I've talked about, the paralysis of analysis.

But if you go off and try to do a short sale, and then try to negotiate with creditors, and you get a new job, or you're in a car accident with the possibility of a recovery, or God forbid a relative dies and leaves you an inheritance, well, the eazy-peezy Chapter 7 bankruptcy proceeding you were going to have in Arizona just got more expensive, at least, and potentially less possible.

Now, I was going to link to a great blogger in California, whose post on this topic jogged my memory, but my computer is funky today; tomorrow, working on a less funky computer, I'll link over to his post, which is a good one, so you see that everybody in the bankruptcy trenches sees this issue with similar eyes.

Don't wait, after your diagnosis, to file your bankruptcy; and don't make material changes in your situation after you hire your Arizona bankruptcy attorney without making sure that you didn't shoot yourself in the Means Test!

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 25, 2010 (boomark / email).