Bankruptcy

I Thought I Would Just Pay You and You'd Do Everything!

By Joseph McDaniel, Esq.

I'm always made sad by the number of folks who figure that if they've done the hard work, getting themselves psychologically ready to go into an Arizona bankruptcy lawyer's office and talk about bankruptcy, that the rest of it should be easy for them.

And you know, gentle reader, that easy, simple bankruptcy cases show up as frequently as the Easter Bunny.

Because of the LISTS! And SCHEDULES! And STATEMENTS!

You gotta list your assets (yep, even the replica light saber that cost you $300 and now sells on e-bay for $3), and debts (with address AND ZIP and account number), and go through the questions in the Statement of Affairs.

That's a lot of work, and sadly, my office can't do it for you.

But I have a dream. Not as wonderful as that dream, but still pretty cool.

In my dream, when clients pull three credit reports, those will have all their debts, in perfect accuracy and completeness.

And it will take only the push of one button to get all those debts and zips and account numbers onto lists. And another program will capture all the assets and spit 'em onto the electronic page (with electronic spit).

But that day is not today, paraphrasing the Return of the King.

Today a debtor gets to tippytype all the info into our online program. I recently agreed with Heidi that we will not, ever, do another big cardboard box bankruptcy (the debtor comes into the office with a big cardboard box full of bills and says:"Here!" and runs out the door).

So unless you're online, you don't get to be a client of mine. But of course, unless you're online, you can't use MapQuest, Yahoo Maps, or Google Maps to find my Phoenix, Arizona office, next to the golf course at the Biltmore.

And apparently you need to, because my office seems to be wrapped in an Invisibility Cloak, based on the number of clients who have trouble actually finding it.

So use the online maps! And plan on doing a lot of typing.

NOTHING HERE CONSTITUTES LEGAL ADVICE RE A CHAPTER 7, CHAPTER 13, CHAPTER 11, OR CHAPTER 12. FIND AN ARIZONA BANKRUPTCY LAWYER WHO IS BOARD CERTIFIED IN BANKRUPTCY LAW, AV RATED, AVVO 10 RATED, ON SUPERLAWYERS, OR JUST VERY EXPERIENCED AND A FORMER CHAIR OF SOME BANKRUPTCY SECTION OR COMMITTEE. NOTHING HERE MAY BE USED AS LEGAL ADVICE IN CONNECTION WITH ANY BANKRUPTCY, WHETHER THAT BANKRUPTCY IS IN PHOENIX, GLENDALE, TEMPE, MESA, SCOTTSDALE, OR ANYWHERE ELSE.

Full post as published by Arizona Bankruptcy Attorney Blog on June 03, 2009 (boomark / email).