Category Archives: Practical tips

“Bankruptcy is not for paupers.” That’s a common way of saying that you need money to file a bankruptcy case, so you don’t want to let yourself get so broke that you can’t even go bankrupt! The cold hard facts of life is that it costs money to save money through the bankruptcy system. (If […]

Generally speaking, in my bankruptcy law practice here on the Massachusetts – New Hampshire line, I advise most people not to touch their 401 (k) and other retirement accounts before filing a bankruptcy case. After all, that money is 100% protected in a bankruptcy filing. If you take it out, you get hit with taxes, […]

Everyone knows that lawyers and regular people speak different languages. Lawyer, of course, speak legalese. And are very attuned to rules, regulations and legal implications. Most other people speak so they are understood, and and depend on traditional and practical rules to guide them through their lives. It turns out Kathy Cruz, a bankruptcy lawyer […]

When filing for bankruptcy, debtors are required to list all their debts, including medical debts. But filing bankruptcy on medical debt does not impact your ability to receive treatment in the future. Bankruptcy offers all debtors a fresh start, including debtors with medical debt. Medical debt is actually one of the biggest causes of bankruptcy […]

There may be a silver lining for bankruptcy debtors who have a yard full of old cars or trucks that they own. Last January, the Supreme Court dealt bankruptcy debtors a tough blow — they ruled that they could not take a “vehicle ownership” deduction on the means test for cars and trucks they owned […]

Did you know you can keep your 401 (K) retirement account when you file for bankruptcy? You can keep all of it, in fact. Which brings up one of the most fundamental rules of bankruptcy law practice — don’t raid your retirement accounts to pay bills if you think you might have to file for […]

Pick up a copy of the Boston Herald and way in the back with the sports pages and classifieds, you are bound to find several advertisements from attorneys or law firms advertising bankruptcy services from $399, $499, or maybe even $299. Is this real? Can you believe it? Is it just too good to be […]

It’s August 1st, and just about every bankruptcy blog in the nation is fixated on the latest news regarding the debt ceiling and the proposed compromise bill now before Congress, so I thought it would be better to tread a little different ground. Just for the record though, the United States as a whole can’t […]

It’s not financially easy for many people to hire a bankruptcy attorney, and they might try to think up some “creative” ways to swing the deal. Here’s one that won’t work: giving your lawyer a series of post-dated checks, intending him to cash them at various points AFTER the case is filed. It’s a little […]