Is Bankruptcy My Only Option for Debt Relief?

Dallas—Fort Worth Attorney Helps You Figure Out Your Best Solution

Video Transcript:

David Shuster: 

It's not a one-size-fits-all by any means, but it is a great form of relief for a certain segment of the population, for sure.

Tom Mustin: 

If you're overwhelmed with debt but don't want to file for bankruptcy, should you still talk to a lawyer? We're talking with attorney David Shuster about that on today's Ask the Lawyer. David, thanks for joining us. 

David Shuster: 

Hey, thanks. Glad to be here. Thanks for having me.

Tom Mustin: 

Great to see you, as always. So I know you're a bankruptcy attorney. And in your experience, does everyone struggling with debt need to file for bankruptcy?

David Shuster: 

No, definitely not. It's relief that's there for a certain segment of people. And so certainly not. No, it doesn't work that way at all. I mean, you want to make sure that it provides a net benefit. And it often does. It just depends. If you're married, if you're not, if you have assets other than your home and cars, home car retirement, those things are exempt. But what if you have a rental property or you have some other liquid investments? And so it's something that does not it's not a one-size-fits-all by any means, but it is a great form of relief for a certain segment of the population, for sure.

Tom Mustin: 

So what are some options that folks have for debt relief that don't include bankruptcy?

David Shuster: 

Yeah, great question. I get that a lot. And I help people out with it as well. It's, you know, in short, it's settling the debt for less. I mean, you know, you're paying per the creditor's terms and things are unmanageable. And that's why people are looking around for other options. It's not just that they took out some loans and thought, oh, geez, I could use this money for something better than paying back the loans. It's the fact that they just can't keep up with it anymore because the terms demanded by the creditors with interest rates and payments and sometimes weekly payments for higher business loans. And so they just can't manage it. And so debt settlement is an opportunity to just, you know, back off and just, you know, not pay and go through the default process and begin to settle the debt for lesser amounts as the person is able to do. 

Tom Mustin: 

So if someone comes up to you, David, says, hey, I don't want to settle for bankruptcy. Do you try and convince them otherwise? 

David Shuster: 

Absolutely not. I do, however, I get that a lot. I don't know what the percentage is, but it is, you know, listen, it's not something that kind of makes a warm and fuzzy feeling when someone says, you know, it's a slow process. It's a psychological process. You know, they have to what to answer your question is, is that I'd like to educate them as to what it is. What does it mean? Is it something that we should even consider for you? That usually takes five minutes. I mean, it doesn't take that long to just figure out, OK, well, should we talk about this more or not? If you know, if there are definitely instances where the I think in my professional opinion and, you know, from doing this over 20 years that, you know, yeah, this is a good option for you. It's, in fact, the best option for you. But but, you know, they don't want to do it again. It's a psychological thing and they think that it's just not for them. And so in those cases, we do offer other options, you know, do like what I like to call a crawl, walk and run approach to find out if there is an alternative way to get back on top of things. 

Tom Mustin: 

So if someone knows that they don't want to file bankruptcy yet, why should they still call an attorney? 

David Shuster: 

They should call an attorney to know their rights. I mean, what can a creditor do to me if I don't pay them? You know, a lot of people just think if I don't pay this this bill at this time or if they maybe they haven't paid the bill in 90 days and they automatically, you know, some people, God forbid, are just they think they can get arrested or something. I mean, I think a lot of people think the worst. OK, and so talking to an attorney is really important just so you can get explained to you what your rights are. OK, I'm in Texas. So anywhere in Texas, it's going to be pretty much the same as far as what your rights are, what a creditor can and can't do. More importantly, the timeline. If you're if you're still current, if you've already defaulted, you know, what kind of time frame am I looking at? You know, do I have to do this tomorrow or can I do bankruptcy a year and a half from now? You know, whatever. Maybe somebody is going to retire in a year, you know. So it's very important to talk to an attorney just to kind of know your rights and really to relieve some anxiety for yourself to prevent some stress.

Tom Mustin: 

Now, a lot of folks are worried about their money these days, obviously. Does it cost anything to call you or set up an appointment with you?

David Shuster: 

It does not if it's regarding, you know, a debt situation where, you know, you've got debt that you can't pay. And so the initial consultation is free of charge. And so, you know, like I said, you know, get up and pick up the phone. If I'm not available, we can I usually can schedule you within 24 hours to get on a phone call or come by my office to go over things for no charge. Yeah. So it's really kind of a no brainer. 

Tom Mustin: 

And you touched on this a little bit, but walk us through the process of actually speaking with you and having you review someone's financial situation. 

David Shuster: 

Sure. Yeah. I mean, right away, you know, I would like to get a quick background story of the person. You know, what's everyone's got a quick story. OK, I mean, some are longer than others, but, you know, we get the quick story of how you got here, you know, what happened, you know, just find out, you know, just key points of, you know, what do you own? Not it's not anything specific. You don't have to have notes. You don't have to, you know, have your tax return out in front of you. You don't have to know, oh, well, I used to make this much last year. No, it's pretty much right now. What's going on? What happened and where are you at now? What do you own? Who's coming after you? You know, we just find out really what is the most stressful thing going on with you right now is, oh, well, this bank calls me every day. OK, well, let's deal with that first. Here's what you do. Tell them not to call you anymore. OK, send him a letter. I can send him a letter, you know, kind of just in order of priority. What is stressing you out the most to, you know, go over that and figure out a timeline and come up with a good solution for them? And usually by the time they hang up, they've kind of there's hopefully in most cases have somewhat of a sigh of relief knowing that things aren't as bad as they made it out to be. 

Tom Mustin: 

Well, David, a lot of great information, as always, and we really appreciate you joining us.

David Shuster: 

Thanks. Yeah, always a pleasure. Appreciate it.

David Shuster: 

And that's going to do it for this episode of Ask the Lawyer. My guest has been attorney David Shuster. If you want to ask David a question about your situation, call the number you see on the screen. Thanks for watching. I'm Tom Mustin for Ask the Lawyers.

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