For anyone who reaches the point of needing to declare themselves bankrupt, it can be a stressful, frustrating and often confusing time. With the myriad of laws it is easy to get lost in it all without a bankruptcy lawyer.
For anyone who reaches the point of needing to declare themselves bankrupt,
it can be a stressful, frustrating and often confusing time. With the myriad of laws, regulations and necessary proceedings that come with such a declaration, it is easy to get lost in it all without the proper help.
Whether it’s an individual who has gotten in over his head in credit card debt or a corporation who has simply taken on too many creditors, a bankruptcy lawyer has seen it all.
On the other hand, because going bankrupt is typically a once-in-a-lifetime, life-altering experience, chances are very good that the person filing for it has not. The result can be all sorts of confusion, panic and helplessness.
A bankruptcy lawyer is there to help you through the process of reorganizing your financial life and helping you get back on your feet, largely because the process is so involved and complicated that it is difficult for a layperson to understand.
In general, to declare yourself bankrupt is to claim a legal status of being unable to pay any and all debts owed to official creditors. The individual in question declares all of his or her assets that may be of any value for assessment by such creditors, and from there the process is designed to establish a structure by which the person can satisfy any and all debts and regain financial solvency one way or another.
It may sound simple and straightforward, yet it is often anything but. In the United States, claiming financial insolvency is a federal matter that is governed across the board by an article in the United States Constitution. This lays out basic guidelines outlining the regulations by which the process is governed, but that’s where the uniformity of the proceedings end.
All individual cases are filed in United States Bankruptcy Court, which is a branch of U.S. district courts, but from there each individual case falls under the laws of the state in which it is filed. These individual state laws take jurisdiction over the majority of the cases, making different people’s experiences vastly different depending on the location and the circumstances.
Creditors can also move to declare a business or corporation bankrupt involuntarily if they are not receiving funds or assets they are owed. Such a move is made in order to force the hand of those in debt and legally force payment or, in some cases, a financial restructuring that allows such payments to be made. However such a maneuver cannot be made against an individual person who is not involved in a business.
Because of the varying nature of the laws that govern the process and because of the unpredictable nature of it whether for a person or a business, only a bankruptcy lawyer is fully prepared to handle any and all scenarios that may arise during the proceedings.
If you find yourself in such a position, a bankruptcy lawyer can mean the difference between getting through it all as smoothly and effective as possible and potentially getting hung up on the many minor details.
