5 Reasons You Should Hire a Lawyer Before Filing Bankruptcy

Whether you’ve lost a home or lost a job, whether you have immense medical bills or a mortgage you’re falling behind on, bankruptcy can help. It has many advantages over 1) doing nothing and 2) trying to save your home on your own through creditors.

What does that mean? Say for example you are falling behind on mortgage payments; you decide to do nothing, hoping it will work itself out. This isn’t a trial case, as by doing nothing you risk losing everything. Since bankruptcy can be complex, and since it has many advantages, you should consider hiring a lawyer prior to making any decisions.

If you try to save your own home by yourself, you might run into difficulty navigating laws. Let’s use these as the first reasons you should hire a lawyer before filing bankruptcy.

Do Nothing or Do Something and Benefit
You can avoid filing bankruptcy, of course. There are alternatives to bankruptcy, but this post isn’t about negotiating with creditors; it’s about getting a fresh start financially. If you do nothing sometimes it will work out. Your reasons for doing nothing can be many, but the disadvantages are too great. If you do nothing, you could lose your home to the lender and your car to the repo-man. If you hire a lawyer immediately, you actually save time and money.

Saving Your Home from Foreclosure
Did you know that if you way too long to file for bankruptcy, you could lose your home? If you fall behind in payments you should talk with a lawyer. And note Chapter 7 bankruptcy, which will absolve you of the debt, will often force your trustee to sell the home to pay back your debts. Chapter 13 bankruptcy is the alternative. An experienced lawyer can walk  you through the steps and help you save your home with Chapter 13.

Before Filing Chapter 13 Bankruptcy
Before you file bankruptcy, you should consider all your options. Chapter 13 bankruptcy is not for everyone. It does have distinct advantages — saving your assets from foreclosure the biggest. An experienced lawyer can save all your assets if you hire him/her before it’s too late. They can advise you on how to navigate the laws.

When Chapter 7 Bankruptcy Works
Chapter 7 bankruptcy has advantages too. Before filing, you should be aware of laws such as exempt and nonexempt properties. Some property you can keep, some property you might lose. But what can you save? An experienced bankruptcy lawyer can explain and help on how to save the most property and how to eliminate the most debt.

Peace of Mind
It may sound minor, but peace of mind may be the best benefit of hiring a lawyer before you go into bankruptcy proceedings. It’s not impossible to do everything yourself, but in most situations hiring a lawyer saves you time, money, and headaches.