Bankruptcy

Bankruptcy Used To Be a Haven for All Debtors With Overwhelming Debt, Offering a Fresh Start. Not So Much Anymore. This Bankruptcy Blog is Sad.

By Joseph McDaniel, Esq.

That's just not enough anymore.

The period between filing bankruptcy cases has expanded beyond the Jubilee Year in the Bible, so now it's eight years between Chapter 7 cases.

And it matters not if you're honest; if you don't pass the dreaded Means Test, you get kicked out of Bankruptcy Court on your overwhelming debt if you try to file a Chapter 7 and you didn't crunch the numbers properly. And if you're above the debt limits for a Chapter 13, you are truly out of luck, unless you can afford the very substantial fees for a Chapter 11 Bankruptcy. And if you have to ask how much a Chapter 11 costs, you can't afford it. Really.

That saddens me; the Bankruptcy Court is the fundamental social safety net for those who have tried to start a business and give people jobs, which is the single most important project in the country at this time.

Making bankruptcy more dangerous, difficult and expensive right now is simply crazy.

On the other hand, nobody said those guys in Washington needed to be either sane, or smart, or helpful.

Must be nice to be those guys, you know?

But bankruptcy, as imperfect a tool as it now it, is still the Court of Last Resort for those with overwhelming debt; you just have to be a good deal smarter to figure out how to help 'em these days, that's all.

And from a bankruptcy blog in Arizona, that's it for now.

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 May 30, 2010 (boomark / email).