Three Weddings and a Bankruptcy?

Just attended a wedding. Somewhere between breaking a glass (it was a Jewish ceremony), main courses and Hava Nagila, I was asked to do draft a couple of complaints, two wills and one POA. Note to self: stop advertising on YP and attend more public events, Paul Newman style in the Verdict.

I also found myself the middle of a semi-heated discussion on a recent explosion of the bankruptcy filings. And now, after all these years, I actually get it! My view of bankruptcy is apparently very different from that of the "civilian population."

The majority of our clients are not newbies to bankruptcy. They are seasoned, battle-scarred fighters with creditors, trustees, landlords, banks and other institution that had a misfortune of lending them money. They know exactly what to expect, they walk into the creditors' meetings with a steely gaze, and they view bankruptcy as a tool that is to be used in the same way that doctors use antibiotics - shouldn't be used frequently, but when in doubt, write a prescription.

As I now realize, this is not how the "majority" views bankruptcy. After the father-bride dance, but before the desserts were served, a friend proceeded telling me, indignantly, how "someone she knows" (SSK) needed help with a foreclosure, and all attorneys on her contact list immediately recommended a quick ("quick" is not how I would categorize it) Chapter 13. SSK slammed the phone on all of them! Why? Because, apparently, there may be other options, and the bankruptcy should be absolutely the last one.

Perhaps a bankruptcy should not be the first option to consider. But a simple Excel spreadsheet calculation is sufficient to determine whether your financial plan to repay (or challenge/negotiate/settle) the debt makes sense or you are delaying the inevitable.