Legal Question in Bankruptcy in Massachusetts

you may want to sit tight

In order to fully ascertain whether or not filing Bankruptcy would be of benefit to you, I need to know more information about your assets and liabilities.

I will however try to help by giving you some things to think about.

If you paid off a debt be sure to have the debt marked paid in full on your credit report. That will minimize the late payments reported for those items.

Filing for Bankruptcy will eliminate personal liability for most debts; and, in that regard filing will "clean up" your credit report. However, I do not think the "blemishes" would disappear, the report will look worse as a result of the Bankruptcy. But if you have a high income and low debt, you may be able to rebuild your credit faster because of the Bankruptcy, oddly because a bankruptcy would likely reduce your debt to income ratios. I have seen people with high incomes who have filed for Bankruptcy get mortgages a couple of years later. But be forewarned that the terms (i.e. interest rate, points, costs, ect ...) of the loan were not favorable to the borrower; however, a couple of years of perfect mortgage payments and you may be able to refinance. That is no guarantee. In general your credit can be hurt for 6-7 years. But, depending on your situation you may have damaged credit for that long anyway.

Another concern may be to eliminate the personal liability before you acquire assets that your creditors could lien to satisfy the debt. It is hard to get a fresh start with high debt. Depending on the age of the debts, the type of debts, whether or not there are any judgements against you, and, also depending upon your assets, the best thing to do may be to sit tight until the statute of limitations expires on the "charge offs" and defaults. If enough time passes your credit report will clear up also ( I think it takes 7 years for the credit report ).

I cannot give an informed opinion about your situation without more information, so please do not take this as legal advise. I am just trying to give you some ideas to develop with an attorney.

If you have any more questions, please feel free to call. I offer a free initial consultation.