Wendy Kaufman of NPR wrote an article last week that examined the dramatic rise in bankruptcy filings. She discussed the fact that more people are now filing Chapter 7 bankruptcy than Chapter 13. To illustrate how bankruptcy is a respectable means for an individual to get a new start, she describes the situation of a corporate manager named Linda Frakes.
By the time Frakes went to a bankruptcy lawyer for help, she owed approximately $150,000 on her credit cards, and was getting increasingly in debt. She went to a credit counseling agency to work out a repayment plan, but it didn’t go well. A single mother in her fifties, Frakes had been living an upper-middle-class life, and was both terrified and depressed. As an owner of several successful businesses Frakes was hit hard by the change in market conditions and was unable to sell her businesses as she had planned. Like many people in debt often do, she began to depend on credit cards to get by. Then a business deal fell through leaving her in even more dire straits.
The origins of most personal bankruptcies are business failures, serious illnesses, divorce, a death in the family, or the loss of employment. Most are circumstances beyond an individual’s control. Yes, in some instances there are individuals opting to file personal bankruptcy who are deadbeats or who never had any intention of paying debts they have accumulated. But as I have noted before, in my practice most people seeking to file bankruptcy aren’t of that nature. Most people are reluctant to file and ashamed about having to do so. As Gloria Nagler a bankruptcy lawyer from Seattle said, filing bankruptcy is “not a moral failing.” It is an option that is a form of protection for people who need and deserve serious help.
If you live in Denver, Aurora, Arvada, Brighton, Broomfield, Commerce City, Englewood, Golden, Highlands Ranch, Lakewood, Lafayette, Littleton, Northglenn, Westminster, or Wheat Ridge, Colorado and have questions please contact me. Kevin D. Heupel, Colorado Bankruptcy lawyer, 303-955-7570, COBankruptcyHelpEmail, free-consultation form.
