You have probably read or heard the stories about bankruptcy. Maybe your neighbor or friend told you, or you did some research on the internet and came across them.
The misconceptions abound. Among those are:
1. The Court is going to come into my house and take my furniture.
2. I will lose my pension if I file for bankruptcy.
3. The judge is going to yell at me when I go to my meeting.
4. I will lose my job if they find out I filed for bankruptcy.
5. If I file for bankruptcy, I will lose my house.
6. If I file for bankruptcy, I will lose my vehicles.
There are lots of others, of course. But let me address the ones I listed.
1. The Court will not come into your house, unless you lie to them about what you have. So don’t lie! We can most likely protect everything anyway.
2. Your earned pension, if in an IRA, 401(k), 403(b), or other qualified plans, is protected unless we are talking about over a million dollars or more. If so, we will look and see.
3. You will not meet the judge at your meeting. You will meet a trustee, who is a bankruptcy attorney, much like we are. No one is going to yell at you unless you don’t tell the truth. So tell the truth!
4. There is an antiÂ-discrimination clause in the Bankruptcy Code. In my 36 years and thousands upon thousands of cases, not one of my clients lost their job.
5. In virtually all cases, people will keep their houses. There is a qualifier here: there is a limit to the amount of equity you can keep that varies by state. We will discuss this thoroughly with you long before any bankruptcy papers are filed so that you will know exactly what is going to happen in your case.
6. People rarely lose vehicles in bankruptcy cases, and we won’t file your case unless we know for certain.
The best advice is to stop listening to your neighbors and so-Âcalled friends about what they heard about bankruptcy. Get some real advice from attorneys who have been doing this for well over one hundred combined years. And that one hundred years is just three of our six attorneys at Steidl and Steinberg.
We are small enough to give you the personal service you deserve, large enough to get the work done efficiently and at a cost that is surprisingly competitive with those who profess low fees. And the consultation is free.