Leo Spanos Law provides unique options to individuals and small business owners dealing with debt, credit, and financial stress. Our consultations are designed to provide a safe and confidential space to discuss financial distress ranging from getting in over your head in credit card debt, dealing with unmanageable tax liabilities, or trying to move forward financially after a difficult life transition – divorce, business breakup or dissolution, loss of a loved one, caring for another, or accident, disability, or illness.

We give advice regarding negotiations, settlements, business dissolutions, and personal bankruptcy options (Chapter 7 and 13). We listen carefully and provide custom advice tailored to your particular situation. There is no “one size fits all.”

Having reviewed thousands of bankruptcy cases as counsel to a Chapter 13 bankruptcy trustee for 11 years and now in private practice, most people who file for bankruptcy are honest and hard-working; most people intended to pay their bills; most people considered other options before bankruptcy such as debt consolidation or debt settlement; bankruptcy was the last alternative. Title 11 of the United States Code was enacted to provide relief to the “honest but unfortunate debtor.” Why should people feel stigmatized for availing themselves of a legal option that was designed to help people in financial stress?

Similar to tax attorneys and other professionals who help people protect their assets from the government, a bankruptcy attorney uses the law to help people save their assets from their creditors when they are no longer able to meet their obligations; banks, credit cards and other financial institutions make money by ensuring that people pay their debts; they will use every tool at their disposal to ensure that they get paid, even if you got sick or had an accident or had to care for a family member; even if you lost your job or will be homeless in the event of a foreclosure.

In the same way that estate planning can help people avoid or defer taxes, bankruptcy allows you to legally restructure your contracts or eliminate your debts. By providing this financial relief, Congress intended to incentivize entrepreneurship and to help people become more productive members of society. And there’s no shame in that.