I can’t stress this enough, but I’m really, really thankful that my brother became a bankruptcy lawyer.  He knows the in’s and out’s of the legal system and a lot about finance and gives me all this great advice, though things still don’t always add up for me.  I had to file bankruptcy last year, but because of him I filed for Chapter 13 and not Chapter 7.  The real difference between the two is that since I still have a regular income I can file for Chapter 13 and get a full discharge option once I’ve paid everything off.  Chapter 7 is a liquidation of assets and I didn’t want to deal with that.  I had a friend go through all that around 4 or 5 years ago and it turned out messy.  He’s doing better nowadays, but he’s still not completely back on his feet.  In fact, back then, I told him he should go to my brother for help, but he kept saying he could handle it.  Apparently, he was upset that it had gotten out that he was filing bankruptcy and felt ashamed.  He didn’t even want to talk to me about it.  I wish he had.  With my brother’s help, we could have done something for him.  He’d be much better off now.