When you make an appointment to meet with me, I’ll send you some simple forms to fill out and bring with you to your appointment. On these forms, you’ll list everyone you owe (yes, everyone, including secured debts like mortgages and other debts you want to keep paying, or loans from friends or family that you will pay back) and your current income and regular expenses. With this information, I can analyze your personal financial situation and tell you which form of bankruptcy can help you. If bankruptcy isn’t the right option for you, I’ll tell you that too. What we discuss in our meeting is confidential and the consultation is FREE.

Under pressure from banking and credit card lobbies, Congress enacted bankruptcy “reform” in 2005. Although there was little statistical evidence of widespread abuse in the system, special interests convinced Congress that people were jumping into bankruptcy even though they could easily afford to repay their creditors.

It is because of the 2005 changes in the law that individuals are required to get credit counseling before filing a bankruptcy case, and are required to get personal financial management counseling after the case is filed in order to be eligible to discharge debts. The “means test” is also a creation of the 2005 reform.

The 2005 law changes increased the burden on lawyers to collect information from clients before filing a bankruptcy case, and required the Department of Justice to randomly select cases to be audited for accuracy. For over 25 years, I’ve striven to make sure that my clients get the best possible outcome from filing bankruptcy and to prevent unexpected negative results, so making sure that my clients’ filings are complete and accurate was nothing new to me.

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