The United States of America is known for alarming bankruptcy statistics. The last few decades have witnessed a drastic increase in the actual number of individuals who are not able to pay off their overwhelming debts. However, Congress has been compelled to recently come up with appropriate legislation to address this issue. The legislation, however, makes it more difficult to qualify for bankruptcy status.
As per https://www.hg.org, bankruptcy is supposed to be a complicated procedure which would necessitate making a host of crucial decisions prior to filing. You would require the professional assistance and expert advice of a qualified bankruptcy attorney so that you could glide smoothly through complex decisions, procedure, and documentation that characterizes a typical bankruptcy filing procedure irrespective of whether it is actually Chapter 13 or Chapter 7. Here are some of the reasons why people seek the assistance of qualified and experienced bankruptcy lawyers. But remember bankruptcy is always the last resort.
Medical Bills & Expenses
As per a study conducted by Harvard University, medical bills and expenses are the prime causes behind bankruptcy and nearly 62 percent of all cases of personal bankruptcies are triggered by medical bills and expenses. Exorbitant and unaffordable medical bills impact both the insured and uninsured individuals.
We understand that serious or rare diseases or grave injuries could easily lead to immense medical bills amounting to thousands of dollars. These medical or healthcare bills could completely wipe out your retirement accounts and your savings, home equity, and college education funds. When all these funding resources have been exhausted, your only hope or shelter is nothing but bankruptcy.
Unemployment
Whether due to resignation, termination, or layoff, a job loss could be quite devastating. Added to this if there is no emergency fund to give you support in this financial crisis, life could be pretty difficult. Moreover, the expenses of COBRA insurance and insurance coverage loss could end up draining your already limited resources. People who are unable to get similar gainful employment would be in a financial turmoil leading to bankruptcy.
Excessive Use of Credit
Some individuals simply cannot stop splurging money. They would soon experience a devastating financial scenario, all their installment debts, car loans, credit card bills, and all other loan payments would be spiraling out of hand. The borrower would soon be unable to even make the minimum payments. If he fails to get financial assistance from friends and relatives or if he cannot take out a debt consolidation loan, he would be compelled to opt for bankruptcy. Bankruptcy should be your last resort. Experts at NationaldebtRelief.com feel that bankruptcy would be adversely impacting your credit scores and you may face the risk of actually losing valuable assets such as a home, car, family heirlooms, etc. Bankruptcy would prove to be a bad decision in the long run.
Role & Responsibilities of a Qualified Bankruptcy Lawyer
The laws and rules that are involved in bankruptcy are not only quite complex but they are pretty difficult for an average person or layman to understand. This complicated situation has become worse in recent times because of the enactment of numerous new laws associated with bankruptcy issues. This is the reason why you need to hire the services of a qualified bankruptcy attorney if you are thinking of filing for bankruptcy.
Professional Duties & Responsibilities
Bankruptcy lawyers require to work within the courtroom and even operate outside the courtroom. Outside the courtroom, lawyers are supposed to advise their clients regarding the complexities and all other important aspects of the existing bankruptcy laws. They would accordingly counsel their clients in effectively reducing their overall debt load by choosing to liquidate assets and pay creditors. Often they may be working for the creditors, trying to get back the maximum amount from the outstanding balance from their debtors.
Bankruptcy lawyers would be presenting a debt-reorganization strategy for approval in the court. Their greatest responsibility is to try and convince their clients to drop the idea of filing bankruptcy and treat bankruptcy only as a last resort. A bankruptcy lawyer has many responsibilities and he is supposed to file bankruptcy documents on behalf of his clients. Every state in the United States has its own set of bankruptcy laws. However, there are important federal bankruptcy laws that are referred to as the ‘U.S. Bankruptcy Code’ that needs to be followed. Both transaction and litigation skills are mandatory for succeeding as a bankruptcy attorney.
Most importantly, the bankruptcy lawyer has the ultimate responsibility of making sure that his clients are actually treated fairly all through this legal process.
Exercising Discretion
At the end of the day, every client deserves a lawyer they can trust and build a good relationship with. Perhaps the most important duty an attorney has is to respect and uphold the privacy of his client. A good bankruptcy attorney will know exactly how much information about the case they are supposed to disclose in any given situation. They will uphold the confidentiality promised by attorney-client privilege throughout, ensuring that no important information falls into the wrong hands.
Bearing Fiscal Responsibility
The one aspect that unites all bankruptcy cases is the absolute mountain of paperwork any professional adviser or attorney dealing with the case will have to sift through to make sense of the dire financial state of their client. It is the sole responsibility of the bankruptcy lawyer to analyze and evaluate all statements and bills to find out what assets and liabilities can be identified as belonging to the client and their employer. This has to be the first priority due to the potential for liquidation later in the process.
Loyalty and Devotion
Any good lawyer must show absolute unwavering devotion to the case at hand. This holds true for bankruptcy lawyers too; an attorney who is paying full attention is that much more likely to look after their clients’ interests.
Invaluable Legal Advice
It goes without saying that bankruptcy lawyers set themselves apart from generic financial advisers due to their legal knowledge. Their primary role is to provide sound legal advice to the client, directing them to take the right steps through the entire process from start to finish. They must prepare a case that gives their client the best possible chance at a favorable outcome and also prepares them for any contingencies, questions, and processes that they might encounter along the way.
Conclusion
There are numerous reasons why people are compelled to opt for filing for bankruptcy. However, often some common sense, readiness for future, and sound financial planning could successfully tackle this issue before it becomes somewhat inevitable. You simply cannot ignore the role of bankruptcy lawyers. If you are looking for an alternative to bankruptcy, you must seek advice from a financial planner or a credit counselor.
