Bankruptcy and Your Career

I Need to File Bankruptcy, But I’m Worried About My Job… If you have a job, need to file bankruptcy, and are worried about getting fired because of it, you probably shouldn’t be. The bankruptcy code prevents employers from firing you just because you have filed for bankruptcy. However, if you are a job seeker, [...]

Why Not Student Loans? In the famous decision, Local Loan Co. vs. Hunt, the Supreme Court summed up the relatively simple policy behind our bankruptcy laws: the ”honest but unfortunate” debtor is given the opportunity to start over, “unhampered by the pressure and discouragement of preexisting debt.” The idea of periodic debt forgiveness is ancient, appearing numerous [...]

Previously, I discussed the bankruptcy rule that employers cannot fire or otherwise discriminate against employees because they filed for bankruptcy.  However, I also mentioned the difficulty in sometimes proving the causation element between the filing and the discrimination, and the fact that a bankruptcy will still come up on credit checks and other types of [...]

Does Bankruptcy Affect Military Security Clearance? There is large presence of military service members in San Diego, California and many of our armed forces members frequently call me up and ask me about the effect of bankruptcy on military clearance. There is no magic answer to this question. It largely depends upon the military security [...]

Qualifying for Chapter 7 Bankruptcy: The Story of Toni Braxton In October 2010, six-time Grammy Award winner Toni Braxton filed for bankruptcy a second time. In her Chapter 7 bankruptcy petition, Braxton claimed debts of between $10 million and $50 million, which grew even worse when a heart condition – diagnosed as microvascular angina – [...]