Bankruptcy Indiana

To all the good bankruptcy attorneys in Indiana who work in the Zuckerberg bankruptcy law offices, Alabama is a long ways from home in terms of practicing Indiana bankruptcy law.

On the other hand, a recent piece of news out of Alabama was of great interest to us, because when, only weeks ago,Alabama County filed for bankruptcy court protection, it marked what Yahoo! News called “the biggest municipal bankruptcy in U.S. history”.

Municipal bankruptcy is actually a topic I’ve been mentioning in these Bankruptcy in Indiana articles, despite the fact that, in all the years I’ve been a bankruptcy attorney in Indiana, the new bankruptcy laws of Indiana have made no provision for a city or a town or county to file bankruptcy.

My work, which involves individual bankruptcy in Indiana and small business bankruptcy in Indiana , is different in that, when a city or town files bankruptcy, it may or may not sell assets to pay debts. The point of the municipal bankruptcy is that it allows time for the municipality to continue to provide services to the extent possible while trying to sort out the debts they have and work with a bankruptcy judge to find ways to settle these debts. For example, Chicago bankruptcy attorney James Chatz said the filing allows all sides to have a moment of calm and then try to reach an agreement. In the meantime, Jefferson County can continue to run its operations and pay its bills.

One of my Columbus bankruptcy lawyer colleagues hit the nail on the head when she observed that it will be very interesting to watch as the Alabama County bankruptcy case unfolds.  As the Huffington Post states, “The biggest civic bankruptcy in American history could leave residents of Alabama's most populous county paying astronomical rates for public services performed by a skeleton crew of county workers. Or it could simply mean tightening the belt another few notches, depending how much of Jefferson County's $4.15 billion debt will have to be paid. It's even possible that, just as companies have benefited from bankruptcy, that the county surrounding Birmingham will emerge stronger for it.”

As a longtime debt consolidation lawyer offering Indiana bankruptcy help, largely through
bankruptcy Chapter 7 in Indiana and through Chapter 13 bankruptcy law in Indiana, I’m very interested in what happens in Alabama. If the bankruptcy process proves to be a successful remedy to the problems there, other municipalities may be encouraged to file as well, including, potentially, law changes allowing for municipal bankruptcy in Indiana.

Will what happens in Alabama stay in Alabama?  This Indianapolis lawyer for bankruptcy is interested to see….