Bankruptcy Indiana

There always seem to be two sides to a story, don’t there? In offering Indiana bankruptcy information, earlier this week I brought my Bankruptcy in Indiana readers up to date on quite a number of good new items about jobs that are coming to our state.  And jobs, (in particular the regular income generated from those jobs), are not only the secret for avoiding bankruptcy, they are the secret of successful emerging from personal bankruptcy in Indiana.

Only after reading an article in the Indianapolis Business Journal called “Why job creation falters in Indiana”, did I realize that all the job announcements I had mentioned in my article were from large employers. The IBJ reported Susan Clark Muntean’s reasoning about what’s going on with jobs in Indiana right now. Muntean, a Ball State management professor, points out that the media tends to dwell on expansions by big companies, forgetting that entrepreneurs are the ones responsible for most job creation.  Muntean believes our state should provide more help to small businesses, instead of providing big grants to lure big business here to the state.

Now, as a longtime small business bankruptcy attorney in Indiana, I am very sensitive to the fact that small business owners have a lot at risk.  And, with Indiana being home to more than half a million small businesses, it’s natural that, during the economic downturn, there has been a big increase in the number of Indiana small business bankruptcies filed. Small business faces all the same challenges that big businesses face, but are even more vulnerable to risk of failure.  That means that I am in general agreement that small business in Indiana needs as much, if not more, government attention and help as big business.  

On the other hand, I realized as I discussed the IBJ article with all the other good bankruptcy attorneys in Indiana who work in the Zuckerberg bankruptcy law offices, our focus needs to be on getting regular income into the hands of our clients. It could very well be the case, as IBJ seems to imply, that the press reports on the big companies, but that the small companies are doing the bulk of the hiring. Whoever’s doing the hiring right now, as a lawyer for bankruptcy in Indiana, I know this: 

Those who’ve filed bankruptcy Chapter 7 in Indiana need income now in order to keep the bills paid.  Those who’ve filed individual bankruptcy under Chapter 13 bankruptcy law in Indiana need to make regular debt repayments.  Every debtor needs to help stop foreclosure. 

As one of the Columbus bankruptcy lawyers who works with me said emphatically, that means they need jobs. Now.