{"id":2938,"date":"2018-12-12T13:59:31","date_gmt":"2018-12-12T13:59:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/phoenixfreshstartbankruptcy.com\/?p=2938"},"modified":"2023-10-26T07:13:59","modified_gmt":"2023-10-26T07:13:59","slug":"common-bankruptcy-worries-part-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/phoenixfreshstartbankruptcy.com\/common-bankruptcy-worries-part-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Common Bankruptcy Worries – Part 2"},"content":{"rendered":"
At Phoenix Fresh Start Bankruptcy Attorneys, our team works with a diverse group of clients with a variety of debt problems. This is Part Two in a series on some of the most common worries that we are told are in the back of our clients minds before they visit one of our Phoenix Bankruptcy Law Offices for a free consultation.<\/p>\n
Won\u2019t Everyone Who Knows Me Going to Find Out About My Bankruptcy Filing?<\/i><\/b><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n The fact is your bankruptcy\u00a0will\u00a0<\/i><\/em>go on the public record. But I would argue that the worry about privacy is completely misplaced.\u00a0\u00a0First of all, someone would really have to seek out the information to find it. The bankruptcy filings are not exactly on the front pages of the Arizona Republic. To even find your bankruptcy filing, someone would have to go looking for it and dig pretty deeply into the classified section of a low circulation small paper. Frankly, most people are too busy or preoccupied with their own concerns to do that.<\/p>\n Secondly, and much more importantly, bankruptcy just doesn\u2019t bear the same stigma that it did when I started out eighteen years ago. The reality is that these day, pretty much everyone has a family member, co-worker or boss that has filed already. When I started filing cases eighteen years ago, bankruptcy as a shameful act. I kept a box of tissues on my desk for every appointment.\u00a0\u00a0It\u2019s just not that way anymore.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/b><\/strong>Do I Need Help with Bankruptcy, or Can I Go It Alone?<\/i><\/b><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n There is a great deal of money on the line. I have been practicing bankruptcy for eighteen years and I learn something new every week. Is this really something that you want to learn on the fly. Everyone thinks they have a simple case(literally everyone) and they know someone who filed on their own and nothing bad happened. Is that really what you want to hang your hat on? This is literally your future on the line.<\/p>\n Perhaps more than any other area of law, bankruptcy is an intersection of state and federal law. A federal statute governs bankruptcy proceedings, but state and local laws and regulations also govern how cases play out. So you might find a website where some \u201cexpert\u201d breaks down how to file for bankruptcy, and you use that information as his guide.<\/p>\n Problem is that site is not Arizona specific. Something that may be generally true in bankruptcy for most of the country is not true here. For example, most of the country accepts the federal bankruptcy exemptions which, among other things, protect a large portion of a personal injury awards. But Arizona rejects the federal exemptions. So when you rely on internet \u201cexperts\u201d you do so at your own peril.<\/p>\n Filing on your own is short sighted. Filing bankruptcy the wrong way \u2013 even the\u00a0slightly<\/i><\/em>\u00a0<\/i><\/em>wrong way \u2013 can result in the loss of assets that you could have preserved and extra expenses, not to mention loss of peace of mind. Keep in mind when you file a Chapter 7<\/u><\/a>\u00a0bankruptcy, you don\u2019t get to walk away from the table if it does sideways.<\/p>\n Finally, think of bankruptcy holistically. This should not a \u201cone and done\u201d where you are at best just moving debts from column A to column B. This is the time for a true fresh start, a time to get it right, break the downward spiral and rebuild your credit score, so\u00a0\u00a0put pride aside, and do this the right way!<\/p>\n