Why do some people wait so long to file?

[tmkats]

Why? I just thought that filing was something that I just would never do. For quite awhile I knew I was in trouble, but I was terrified, this is such a life altering decision. Finally after about a decade of robbing Peter to pay Paul, taking the bk plunge seemed to be my only option left.

Then attending the "pre-trial" phase of a lawsuit against me, finally forced my hand, and made me realize that there are worse things that could happen than going bankrupt.

This just about sums it up for me too. Actually, my wife and I already WENT through worse (long story, not for here) and if we could get through that, we can get through this. I too was robbing Peter to pay Paul and in the end robbing Mary to pay both Peter and Paul. It was then that I decided I couldn't do this anymore.

I'm probably not going to file until the end of the year so that:

A) I can pay off my attorney in installments and
B) so that I have 6 months of stubs to show and
C) so that I can spend down some of our cash on everyday items and still have some left over at the end of the month

I wish I could file sooner, but I've been telling all of the creditors calling to contact my lawyer, so hopefully they get the hint and he's doing his job on his end.

[cocoasmom]

The main reason we waited was we didn't have the money to pay the attorney.

[mountanddo]

I waited because I was hoping to avoid a Chapter 13 and file a 7. Unfortunately I was sued before that happened and was facing garnishment of wages.

[CCM620]

Well,
I have gone around two years without filing. Reason is filing does me no good as I have nothing to collect on and my state has a no wage garnishment law. I am unemployed, but if I was facing a 25% garnishment when I do find a job, I'm sure I would be filing. Now that I'm in the process of receiving my first judgement, Im scheduling another appointemnt with a bk attorney to retalk my situation. I asked the first bk attorney why SC is 50th in bk filings, and he said because of the no wage garnishment law, exemptions are the same for both judgements and bankruptcy, and judgements are not enforcable after ten years. So I think each persons circumstances are different, and alot depends on the state you live in.

[Fallonedward]

The reason we had to wait is we needed my hubby's severance to fall off our look back. If the severance was on for the look back there is no way we would have qualified. So we had to wait for 8 months for it to roll off and save enough for the attorney.

For us if we had filed with the first attorney we were going to go with we would be in a 13 due to severance and here we are 21 months after hubby lost his job and he still does not have a direct hire job.