Orlando Bankruptcy Law Blog

The American elderly are at risk, experts say, and it is not necessarily because of medical issues. A number of factors have come together to create an enormous debt problem for the aging Florida population. With shrinking or fixed incomes, many of these individuals are turning to bankruptcy for debt relief.

Even after decades of saving, those who are approaching or are currently in retirement have less money at their disposal than they might have otherwise expected. With many retirement accounts tied to the economy, the Great Recession in 2008 shattered the financial foundation that many people had built for their retirements. As the economy was slow to rebound, most seniors had little choice but to turn to lines of credit simply in order to survive.

Suffering financially is often categorized as just another feature of being an adult. While virtually no one wants to have to stretch their money from paycheck to paycheck, adults in Florida are often fed the message that their struggle is not uncommon, and therefore they are doing all right. According to experts, this is not the reality that people should be living with. Instead, millions of people in America could benefit from pursuing Chapter 7 bankruptcy.

Fewer than 500,000 people filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy in 2017. According to one expert, this is a vast underuse of an important resource for Americans, particularly those who fall into the low-income category. Some even liken it to a tool for fighting poverty, as a fresh financial start can help individuals improve their credit scores and even potentially obtain better jobs.

Receiving an unexpected medical bill can be devastating for the average person's finance situation. But what about when a Florida patient is anticipating opening up their mailbox to find a large bill waiting for him or her? In some cases, knowing what is coming does not make it any easier. For those burdened by medical debt, debt relief can be a necessary component of financial recovery.

In 2008, an out-of-state woman was diagnosed with a particularly aggressive type of breast cancer. With treatment, she successfully beat the cancer. However, she says she is still living with the lingering effects from undergoing that life-saving treatment -- medical bills. She says that the cost of saving her life was so astronomically high that she is unsure how much the original total was. Unsure if she will ever be able to pay off that debt, she questioned whether she would have initially sought treatment if she could have known about her future bills.

Tax season can be a time of incredible stress if you do not have the funds to cover what you owe the government. As these bills grow, accumulating interest, you may find yourself at the bottom of an impossibly deep hole. Chapter 13 bankruptcy can usually help individuals in your situation, but you also need to determine if your tax debt is dischargeable through this process.

Federal income taxes are usually what come to mind first when talking about tax debts, but you could be struggling with many other types of taxes. For business owners these could include Florida state sales and employment taxes, and virtually anyone could find themselves on the hook for unpaid Social Security taxes or property taxes. Since Chapter 13 generally allows for a greater number and variety of debts to be discharged, it is a good option if you are dealing with multiple tax debts.