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

Nora Raum (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 6, 2005

From experienced bankruptcy attorney and trusted NPR newscaster Nora Raum: a compassionate, step-by-step guide for recovering from financial crisis

Personal bankruptcy filings continue at record levels, due in large part to soaring medical costs, increasing numbers of uninsured Americans, an unstable job market, and unprecedented credit-card marketing. Drawing on eighteen years of experience as a bankruptcy attorney, Nora Raum has created a unique lifeline for those facing the challenge of insurmountable debt. Counseling readers on the emotional as well as the practical aspects of regaining their financial footing, Surviving Personal Bankruptcy provides:
o Up-to-date, jargon-free information about the new bankruptcy laws passed in 2005
o An eye-opening process for weighing all the options, including alternatives to bankruptcy and descriptions of Chapter 7 and Chapter 13 bankruptcy
o Easy-to-use worksheets to help readers analyze their finances rationally
o Worksheets for tabulating debt and preparing to file
o Advice for hiring a great lawyer and preparing for the hearing
o Sample letters to credit-reporting agencies and creditors
o A plan for life after bankruptcy, including how to avoid scammers who prey on those who have declared bankruptcy
o A question-and-answer chapter, with candid advice for real-life situations
o True stories of well-known people who’ve filed for bankruptcy—heartening proof that it can happen to anyone

Filing for personal bankruptcy is not a dead end; it’s merely a turning point in the road to financial recovery. By removing the stigma and confusion, Nora Raum will make that road much smoother.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Raum, a lawyer and newscaster for National Public Radio, offers advice on understanding how bankruptcy works and whether it might be an option for people in adverse financial shape. She explains in detail what bankruptcy involves, who is eligible, and what its alternatives are. Raum lists frequently asked questions and explains how to hire a lawyer and provide all the information a lawyer will need. There are chapters on prebankruptcy do's and don'ts, on what Raum calls "tying up loose ends," on cleaning up your credit report, and on establishing new credit. Look out for scams, Raum warns, and she discusses the bankruptcy law that goes into effect this year. The book includes worksheets (with, yes, blank spaces for the user to fill in, so librarians be alert) for assessing debts and assets, a state-by-state list of homestead exemptions, a state-by-state list of median income for a family of four, a bankruptcy worksheet, a sample bankruptcy petition, and sample letters. George Cohen
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

About the Author

Millions of people listen to Nora Raum’s newscasts on National Public Radio. She has also practiced law for nearly twenty years, specializing in personal bankruptcy. Her column “It’s the Law” appeared in The Northern Virginia Journal.

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 14 and up
  
• Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: Gotham (October 6, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1592401589
• ISBN-13: 978-1592401581
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 7 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,241,403 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Powered by 19 years of bankruptcy background, March 18, 2006

By 

D. Donovan, Editor/Sr. Reviewer "California B... (California, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Surviving Personal Bankruptcy: Your Guide to the Personal, Legal, and Financial Issues (Paperback)

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.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Plain English Good Advice, May 13, 2009

By 

Ralph W. Ledrew (Seattle, WA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Surviving Personal Bankruptcy: Your Guide to the Personal, Legal, and Financial Issues (Paperback)

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

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars EXCELLENT Consumer Bankruptcy Resource, February 12, 2009

By 

Joseph C. McDaniel (Phoenix, Arizona) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Surviving Personal Bankruptcy: Your Guide to the Personal, Legal, and Financial Issues (Paperback)

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).