Legal Question in Bankruptcy in California

Re: on disability

With the situation you're in, you don't need to file a bankruptcy, because the creditors would not be able to collect anything from you anyway. They will eventually sue and get judgments, but unless you have income or assets, you are "judgment proof." They can, however, keep calling and can sometimes require you to appear in court to testify about your financial situation. Many people choose to file a bankruptcy just to avoid the calls, the suits, and the general stress of having creditors trying to collect.

You could write a letter to the credit card companies, but I've never seen that stop them from their collection efforts.

The bottom line is that it is your personal decision whether to file a bankruptcy or not, and it just depends on whether you want creditors continuing to try to collect from you or not.

--Doug Crowder

Re: on disability

I intend to only suppliment Doug's answer. Credit card companies do not spend a lot of time (which should read as money) chasing bad debts. They turn them over to debt collectors. These people call and write letters. Rarely does any credit card company sue. Suing costs money. And in the end you get a judgment against someone who is judgment proof (no money to pay judgment). So change your telephone number to an unlisted number, and wait for the letters to start coming. Save the letters because if you recover or have a job (no longer judgment proof). You'll want to consider filing BK; and you'll need to know who and what you owe. So don't expect to be sued unless you've a Discover or Sears card. Expect lots of mail which will eventually taper off. And if you don't change your telephone number to unlisted expect the same thing by phone.