subject: Bankruptcy in greenville sc, bankruptcy attorney [print this page] Bankruptcy in greenville sc, bankruptcy attorney
Bankruptcy in Greenville SC. How does a Bankruptcy start?
I started working in the family business when I was 12 years old. I worked weekends, summers and vacations. I worked all the time. And I made good money all the way. I had never run into a situation I could not work my way out of. Good and Bad times came and went, and I always adjusted.
Running your own business is not for the faint of heart. Every thing health related is expensive, and there are no discounts. It is really outrageous that the self employed pay full retail rates that are inflated by government and insurance company requirements, but that is another story.
Our second child almost killed my wife. For 3 months before she was born my wife was on bed rest, and I was there with her a great deal of the time. Then she was born 3 lbs 14 oz. You would never know it now. She is beautiful, strong and intelligent, but her beginning was hard on all of our family. This was our first blow.
My second blow came about 10 months later. I started having muscle spasms all over my body. My legs, chest, arms, scalp, eyelids, eyeballs. It was a terrible experience. Then it got worse. I started having short term memory loss and confusion attacks about 2 months into my ordeal. The doctors could not figure out what was wrong with me, and I was losing my mind. I went through all of the ologist trying to find my problem. I continued to work full time whenever I could. I had never known any other way to do things. I always gave my all and it had always worked out for the best. This time it was a real mistake. I was basically disabled for about 8 months. The work I did had lots of mistakes in it. I continued to travel to cover my territory, but many times I became lost in my travels. It was a terrible terrible time. My loss of income from my illness and my mistakes on jobs cost me tens and perhaps hundreds of thousands of dollars. After many months my perfect storm of health issues finally sorted itself out by having a poisonous gallbladder removed and getting set up with a CPAP to help me breathe at night. But it was almost too late.
I was behind the 8 ball, but I felt like I would be able to turn things around and was feeling better than I had in years.
My third blow was the longest and hardest. We had been through tough times in the past. But they had always come back around in the end. This time, that was not to be. My work started drying up the year I was sick, but there was still a steady flow. Probably 75% of previous years. The next year work dropped to about 40% , and then 20%. There was a time I probably kept 40 people from manufacturing plants, installers, designers to truck drivers busy full time. I would work 60 to 70 hours a week. The work now cant keep me busy for more than a day a month. And most of that is profitless work keeping up with government requirements. This was the blow I could not overcome, and I am sure many of you are in the same boat. We live in a different world. I fought until I had nothing left. I think God was trying to teach me that my pride would not get me through my ordeal. That I could not handle this by myself. That I needed to lean on him. I had always done the right thing. I did not know any other way. But this was one time I was not going to get out.
I started trying to handle my debt by working with the credit card companies. That went no where. I tried HAMP (more on that later). We were denied. We were too well off to qualify. Not according to my numbers, but that means nothing. Then I moved on to debt settlement. Lies, lies and more lies. Calls from creditors, letters, calls from creditors to family members, calls from creditors to friends. The laws mean nothing to these people. Even if you have all the proof in the world the penalties are meaningless. It is worse than people can possibly imagine or believe. Even our family members started getting into the act of catching them, but it did not matter. The settlement companies mean well, but they cannot shield you. I had nothing to give my creditors, but they did not care. In the end my pride was totally gone. I was depressed.
The life I knew is gone, but there is hope. I do have a new start. And if you have reached this same point, you can have a new start too. The pain, fear, shame, grief, etc. can go away. My family was the most important thing to me. The decision I made was not easy. If I can ever get myself going again and I am successful I can go back and pay my debts, but I can do it on my terms and in my time. For now, I have my family, and after many trials and tribulations we are safe, healthy and happy. We do not have what we once had, but we have each other. And that really is enough.
