Sometimes life can kick people right where the sun doesn’t shine and sometimes good people need to file bankruptcy and find a bankruptcy lawyer.
I remember back in the day. Being a 14 year old kid with chiselled jawline. Life was good, but presumably, not for the family next door. Our neighbours were going through a bankruptcy process. It envisioned such a life-shattering process.
The bankruptcy lawyer visited the family daily. The kids went from having smiles on their faces to looking disillusioned. But all the while, the father continued to smile as if everything was normal. To be honest, he seemed happier.
They didn’t lose their house or the big yellow dog. They retained their vehicles. It made me wonder. Well, if these people got to keep all their sh#t, how terrible is bankruptcy?
The word bankruptcy is so powerful that when people hear it, they are perhaps keen to stay as far away from it as possible.
Oct 16, 2021. I am Trevor H. I write about jobs and money.
Going back around 25 years, I decided to visit my neighbor, who was going through the bankruptcy process. He was sitting on the front porch, reading the paper. At first glance, I was expecting him to be searching through the job classifieds, but no. He was viewing vacation destinations.
A man in the process of filing bankruptcy, about to go to the Caribbean. This was a total head-scratcher.
The man’s name was Fred. He was a businessman, reflected by the Mercedes Benz that occupied his driveway. I remember our chat. He acknowledged his 2 kids’ sadness over the ordeal and mentioned to me that they would not fully understand this situation until adulthood.
I asked him, “Are you going to be moving away? Are you selling the house?” He shook his head no, nonchalantly. I furrowed my bro.
His wife stepped onto the front porch with a smile on her face. She said hello and served her husband a hot coffee. She mentioned that Mike, the bankruptcy lawyer, will not be visiting today. Everything seemed so normal but weird. If that makes any sense.
After telling Fred she was going to the salon, Sharon, the wife, hopped in her BMW and departed.
As a young teenager, I had to do it. I mean if you’re a teen, it’s a great age to be a nosey little sh#t, and get away with it. I asked, “If you get to keep all your stuff, and none of it gets taken away, what is all this bankruptcy stuff?”
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I believe he was impressed that a kid would ask this question, judging by the slight grin on his face. He put down the paper, looked me in the eye and said, ”Sometimes in life we try things, like business, and sometimes those businesses don’t work. It’s the way life goes. I tried something and it failed.”
I started to nod my head up and down as if I completely understood what he was saying about all this bankruptcy jargon. All the while, there was just one more thing I wanted to comment on – One more thing I wanted to be a nosey little sh#t about. I went for it –
“But you lost all your money, everything,” I said, nervously.
This is when Fred or best to say The Legend, reached into his pocket, pulled out a smoke and lit one up.
“I didn’t lose a cent,” he stated, smiling. It wasn’t my money that I lost, it was the bank’s cash.
This is when I sat down next to him and took a breath. I thought to myself, Legend (Fred) gets to keep his house, cars, hot wife and the dog, and at the end of the day, he didn’t lose any cash in this bankruptcy process. A dramatic sigh was had.
Christmas break was approaching so I asked if Mike and Rod, Fred’s kids, were going to be around to play. He said that they were planning to go to Cancun over the holidays.
This mind-boggling conversation was over for me. I went back home and refrained from thinking about bankruptcy and bankruptcy lawyers for many years to come.
The older I got the more I heard about famous people filing for bankruptcy, but these celebrities were still ballin’ out in luxury rides, and stylish houses with gold dogs.
Donald Trump, Dave Ramsey and Mike Tyson are just a few of which have filed bankruptcy, and I highly, highly doubt that you will ever see these fellas pulling up to a 7/11 in some 2008 Honda Civic that has over 200k miles on it.
It took me until my late 20s to realize that many people, business owners, etc, went bankrupt to benefit. Here are some benefits of filing bankruptcy.
- The debts you have incurred are written off
- The debts you have incurred can’t be used to take legal action against
- Demanding payment and interest are stopped
I don’t know about you guys, but all of this bankruptcy talk makes me want to get the biggest loan possible from the bank and start a business. If it works, wonderful, and if it doesn’t, that’s what a bankruptcy lawyer is for.
In all seriousness, this is just my experience and should NOT be taken as advice of any kind.
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