About this book
The reader may be wondering why I wrote this book. During almost forty years of representing debtors, I have pretty much seen and heard it all. Since the advent of the Internet and Google, everyone has become a “maven,” or junior G man as I call them . . . a specialist on the ins and outs of bankruptcy. Why? Well, they had a friend who had a friend who told them that it was like this, that and the other thing. There is a tremendous amount of misinformation when the subject comes to bankruptcy that I felt it was finally time for someone, such as myself, to clue the world in to the reality of filing bankruptcy. The “emes” as I am wont to say. It is not the end of the world and oftentimes may be the beginning of a new one! Though I consider myself a very entertaining person, I know that no one really wants to be sitting across from me discussing their financial problems. No one! Unfortunately, reality intrudes into our lives and, in the words of a friend, “you may not want to but you must” consult a bankruptcy attorney. As you will see in the pages that follow, there are warning signs of financial problems along with steps to take pre-filing. The filing process itself is really not that daunting. The process is informal. Creditors tend to take bankruptcy filing in stride because most debtors today are people who, for one reason or another, find themselves in financial dire straits . . . a lost job, an illness not covered by insurance or some other catastrophic occurrence. What gives me the most pleasure is when my client tells me after getting their discharge in bankruptcy that they wished they had heeded my advice that the anxiety of the process was much worse than the reality. This book attempts to relate the ins and outs of the bankruptcy process in language that you can understand. It is my attempt to demystify a process that may be completely foreign to you. Nothing occurs in a vacuum, and someone who is having financial problems should be well aware of the situation that they are facing. All too often, clients believe that by ignoring the warning signs and the telephone calls, correspondence, litigation and the like, it will all go away. While I was born a cynic and, after practicing law for almost forty years, I will guaranty you nothing but that your creditors will not disappear and go away!
