Surviving Personal Bankruptcy: Your Guide to the Personal, Legal, and Financial Issues

Surviving Personal Bankruptcy: Your Guide to the Personal, Legal, and Financial Issues

After listening to Nora on NPR for years, it was like getting advice from a good friend. The one thing I've gotten from all of the advice and reading is to understand the choices and the consequences of each and then make your selection. I always thought I'd have to take the advice of the first expert I asked. I now look at all of the diverse advice and information as tools to help keep me in the driver's seat.

Don't know yet whether I will have to file, but the fat lady hasn't sung yet. This book is a bargain!

Thanks Nora… Bill
Rating: 5 / 5

This is a wonderful consumer bankruptcy book! Easy to read, comprehensive without being overwhelming, and with the kind of practical advice and knowledge that only come from experience.

It is obvious that the author, Nora Raum, really knows her stuff.

She'd been practicing bankruptcy law for 19 years at the time this book came out, and it shows. She has the wisdom that only comes from time in the bankruptcy trenches.

If a consumer with no bankruptcy knowledge wants a good place to start the analysis of decisions about bankruptcy, this is it.

There is a useful discussion of the difference between Chapter 7 Bankruptcy and Chapter 13 Bankruptcy, a good explanation of the bankruptcy process in both common types of consumer bankruptcy, and an explanation of the First Meeting of Creditors (section 341 hearing), which is usually the only hearing in a consumer Chapter 7 case.

Nora Raum is a lucid writer; she isn't interested in impressing you with how much she knows, although she impressed me. She's interested in talking with you about the bankruptcy process. She's clear and straightforward, and doesn't use five-dollar words when a simple explanation will get the job done.

The book is well laid out, is a quick read and flows well from one section to another. My guess is that the book was easy for her write, because it sounds just like what you would hear if you spent two hours with an av-rated board certified bankruptcy lawyer with a few decades of experience. If the lawyer liked you and wanted you to be well informed.

She strikes the right balance between telling her consumer readers, who are after all likely to be a lot anxious, exactly how to go about finding a lawyer (ten easy steps, including consulting your gut, a remarkably important step, because the bankruptcy process is stressful, so you need a lawyer who doesn't make you feel stupid, angry or depressed).

I was frankly pleased with Nora's take on whether to file a bankruptcy without a lawyer to represent you, which is perfectly legit for an individual. Her take is simple; it's a dumb idea, but if you're going to do it, take up the process of filing as though it's a real live job, and read everything you can possibly read about it.

It's also clear that her anxiety about pro per debtors (people representing themselves) has nothing to do with a bias in favor of lawyers. It has to do with her recognition that many people who file a bankruptcy without adequate representation will suffer for that decision, and she doesn't like consumer debtors to suffer.

Frankly, she's compassionate without being unrealistic, and that's the balance that's needed in dealing with a consumer who is facing overwhelming debt.

The book does a nice job of discussing fairly complex bankruptcy ideas like fraudulent transfers, preferences, and complaints to determine discharge of debts in non-technical, easy to understand language.

All in all, I am very impressed with this book, and think it would be very helpful to a consumer debtor contemplating bankruptcy, and should serve to make the process much less scary and intimidating.

None of the above should be relied on as legal advice, which you should obtain from an experienced and qualified lawyer in your jurisdiction prior to making any important decisions.

p.s. as I write this postscript, there is a raging debate in Congress over a provision in the Bankruptcy Code that may, after amendment, permit the stripdown of some OR all mortgages on residential real property. Will that statute pass? Listen, I've practiced bankruptcy law in Phoenix, Arizona for about thirty years, and I've watched a long series of amendments to the "New Code" of 1979; and I've watched as Congress debated in the past. The 2005 amendments took about a decade to work their way through Congress. So MAYBE the Bankruptcy Code is about to change a lot. And MAYBE it's not. But if you're contemplating bankruptcy in Phoenix, Arizona, or anywhere else, you should be aware that the law is currently MAYBE about to change in a way that could be helpful to debtors, IF they qualify and are willing to put up with a Chapter 13 bankruptcy (which makes a root canal look like fun).

Rating: 5 / 5

For nineteen years author Nora Raum has advised her client on how to use bankruptcy to regain personal footing: she's in the perfect position to provide details on the latest changes in bankruptcy laws, how to weigh all the options, different kinds of bankruptcy, and more. Worksheets help users tabulate debts and prepare to file, while pros and cons and dos and don't avoid common pitfalls. Filing for bankruptcy is a turning point to financial recovery, and case histories blend with how-to facts to help avoid scams and establish a new history.

Rating: 5 / 5