My kingdom for some good advice!

Once I had acknowledged the enormous financial mess I was in and how I could possibly get out of it, I did what I thought was the sensible thing and went to get some advice.

I had no money, I couldn’t afford to see an accountant or a lawyer, so I went to a free community advisory service. They put me on to a local financial counselor, another free community service. The financial counselor was only available two days a week. I left a message and received a call a few days later. I told her my story and the advice I received was that my financial situation was a family law issue (my business partner was also my spouse) and I was referred to a community legal centre. I rang them to make an appointment and found out there were no appointments, you just turn up at 9.30am when they open and register to wait. There are only four appointments available each day so if there are more than four people waiting you can miss out. I was waiting at 9.15am with two other people. I tried not to appear too aggressive and let one of the other people go before me but my sense of generosity has waned somewhat in the past months and I swear I was prepared to get mildly physical to keep my place. However, I successfully registered without adding an assault charge to my record, and my turn arrived. After hearing my sorry tale, the counselor explained that I actually needed to see a company lawyer because all of the loans, including my personal debt, were related to the business. I asked her for a referral and she gave me a brochure. I left her office with great purpose until I looked more closely at the brochure she had given me and realized the number on the back was the same as the advisory service I had originally contacted. I had come full circle.

By this point, I had come clean to my parents and they were very concerned and offered to lend me the money to get a lawyer. I found a company lawyer and was surprised when they offered me a free consultation to determine exactly what I needed to do (yes, there are lawyers that do this!). They felt that there was a definite family law case but there was no way I was going to be able to avoid my responsibilities regarding the personal guarantees for the business loans. I went to see a family lawyer who also had company law experience (again, free consultation!) and he confirmed that unless I could convince the lenders to release me from the guarantees, I would be liable. Both of them felt that bankruptcy was a drastic measure and suggested that I negotiate with the creditors to see if they would release me from the guarantees. I knew this would be pointless as they were all friends and family of my ex-partner. I knew that they would not release me and would be very angry and disappointed that I was not going to honour the guarantee.

So I persevered onward and downward to bankruptcy!