I used to laugh when I heard the phrase, "affordable bankruptcy," but now I actually get it. No one filesbankruptcyfor fun; we file because we have a mountain of debt and no foreseeable way to pay it off. At the same time, a good attorney doesn't work for free and filing can actually cost thousands of dollars. Fortunately, in my experience, they also understand that you're broke and in our case, jobless, so they provide generous re-payment schedules.
There are all sorts of unnerving unknowns in the future. Will anyone rent us a house or an apartment once we have to leave ours? You know that little box you have to tick, or not, on applications that reads, “have you ever filed bankruptcy?” I used to scoff at that, thinking what poor, irresponsible person has to check that box?! Now, I know. It could be anyone. Good or bad, responsible or not, anyone can end up here.
A benefit of bankruptcy:
a smaller bill pile!
Our lawyer inspired me as we signed document after document a couple of weeks ago. He said that the beautiful thing about the US bankruptcy laws is that it allows for people to take a chance. Entrepreneurs have been given this gift through bankruptcy laws to take risks; if the venture fails, they (we) can take another risk without being punished for failing. We’re not thrown in debtor’s prison for the rest of our lives, or left to repay our former landlord’s or vendors for the next 20 years. No. We can wipe the slate clean and begin again.
And that’s just what we’re going to do.
Disclaimer:
I am participating in a blogger campaign by Bucks2Blog and was compensated for this post, however, the views and opinions are my own.
