I’m Broke: It’s not easy to Declare Bankruptcy

Declaring bankruptcy is the last resort in salvaging your financial existence. Bankruptcy is also the final reprieve you can take against harassing phone calls, the IRS, repossessions, and threats of foreclosure. Bankruptcy carries a heavy weight on your future financial record, a stigma that normally takes years to neutralize, even with the intervention of bankruptcy attorneys. Only the most desperate of situations should push anyone to consider turning to Chapter 7 and 13 of the U.S.

Bankruptcy Code for relief.

But, declaring bankruptcy isn’t as simple as pushing a button. Like everything else, bankruptcy has a process to follow, and people need a little help getting there. Bankruptcy is a process that could take months of passing paperwork, and requirements with many uncomfortable meetings to attend.

You’d need to consult a lawyer that not only specializes in mastery of bankruptcy law, but is also intimate with the amendments made in the Bankruptcy Reform Act of 2005. A law which requires, with a few exceptions, that individuals seeking to declare bankruptcy should obtain a debt-counseling certificate. Lawyers who specialize in bankruptcy explain that the rationale behind the certificate is to help people work through their bankruptcy, and educate them on how to avoid repeating the same mistakes.