As any bankruptcy attorney or anyone working for a bankruptcy law firm will know, no one WANTS to file for bankruptcy. In fact, filing for bankruptcy can be a time of upheaval, of emotional distress, and of insecurity on so many different counts. Unfortunately, however, filing for bankruptcy has become necessary for a great many people and a great many businesses alike all throughout the country, from one end to the next and everywhere in between as well.
Fortunately, a bankruptcy lawyer can help many who are needing to file for bankruptcy. The role of the typical bankruptcy attorney is most certainly an important one and having a bankruptcy attorney on your side during such a difficult period is essential for so many different reasons. For one thing, a bankruptcy lawyer can help to educate you on the ins and outs of filing for bankruptcy, from what you should expect from the process to what the repercussions of this process might be. After all, as any good bankruptcy attorney will know, there are many types of bankruptcy out there – and many people looking to find debt relief for many different reasons indeed.
For instance, medical debt is all too common all throughout the country. Far too many people are going without health insurance and many more have health insurance that is not enough to cover their medical costs in any kind of real and substantial way. But whether or not you have health insurance, emergency medical events do occur, from serious injuries (perhaps like those sustained in the typical car accident) to even terminal illnesses and emergency events like heart attacks and strokes. You’ll likely end up in the local emergency room closest to you, where they are obligated legally to treat you no matter what the state or status of your insurance. However, you are all too likely to end up saddled with quite the major bill indeed.
All of this can all too easily lead to medical debt that simply cannot be paid off. After all, just one minor ER visit can amount in a bill of more than $1,000 – sometimes considerably more than that. When you can’t pay it off, you might end up needing to file for medical bankruptcy, hopefully with the help of a skilled and trustworthy bankruptcy attorney. After all, up to two million people file for such bankruptcy over the course of just one year – and that’s just here within the United States.
There are also many other types of bankruptcy and all come with their own intricacies for filing. For instance, it is not uncommon for a Chapter 7 bankruptcy to take as many as six months before being concluded. In addition to this, you sometimes might even have to pay to start a bankruptcy case in the first place, though this is something that not only various among different types of bankruptcies but from state to state throughout the country as well. In the state of Texas, for example, it is the norm to pay around $500 to file a Chapter 11 bankruptcy, though this is not necessarily seen in each and every state out there.
You’ll also want to consult with your bankruptcy attorney on the long term impact of filing for bankruptcy. Even if there is just no getting around the fact that you will ultimately have to file for bankruptcy and no real way to avoid it, it is still important to understand any and all of the repercussions that might come about from it. For instance, it is common for a Chapter 7 bankruptcy to be reflected by your credit report for as many as ten years, a full decade, after the date of filing. Therefore, filing for a Chapter 7 bankruptcy might impact your ability to take out all kinds of loans, such as those for homes as well as various motor vehicles to boot.
At the end of the day, needing to file for bankruptcy is a frightening and quite jarring thing indeed. Fortunately, there are many ways to make the process easier, such as hiring a bankruptcy attorney to provide advice and help guide you through it.
