Should I file for Bankruptcy?  This question is very common and is asked often during the course of a bankruptcy consultation.  The answer, it depends on you.  If you don’t hear this from a bankruptcy attorney before you have had the chance to sit down with him or her, I would strongly suggest you consider looking further.  The answer to this question depends on a number of factors such as, with sort of debts do you possess, how much income you have available, how much total debt you possess, what sort of items do you want to keep, etc.

For example, you may be feeling the pinch from your student loans, but only have about $5,000 to $10,000 in other types of unsecured debt.  For most people student loans simply are not dischargeable in bankruptcy, so in most instances this could be a situation where filing for bankruptcy may not be that helpful.  Of course there are exceptions, but again if you are like most people facing this situation, you would be better off seeking a forbearance or deferment from your lender, and trying to get other bills caught up.

What if you have all medical debt?  Perhaps you didn’t have health insurance and you needed to go to the hospital for an emergency.  More often than not, these types of cases do end up in bankruptcy.  Most clients that I see, tend to have situations where there are not a lot of assets to worry about and the bankruptcy exemptions would allow them to keep most if not all of their property.

There are a number of situations where the question of whether or not to file bankruptcy is not so clear cut.  These are the situations in which consulting with a lawyer can be of great benefit.

if you are considering bankruptcy, talk to a local south bend bankruptcy lawyer today.

The Law Office of Jeffery M. Haupt is located in South Bend, Indiana and helps people handle family law issues such as divorce, child support, paternity, and child custody, criminal defense matters, DUIs, theft charges, and license suspensions; and financial matters such as Bankruptcy and Foreclosure. The information in this blog should only be used for educational purposes and not be construed as legal advice. Nothing in this blog creates an attorney-client relationship between me and any readers of this blog. No attorney-client relationship is created until you have a document from me saying so.  DO NOT POST ABOUT CASE PARTICULARS IN THE COMMENT SECTION.