By: Jessie Lundberg, Equal Justice Works AmeriCorps Legal Fellow, Montana Legal Services Association – Consumer Law UnitBankruptcy is a powerful word. It carries many connotations, most often negative. For many, it symbolizes failure. Crisis. Even personal and moral shortcomings. After all, what kind of a deadbeat runs up a bunch of bills they can’t pay?Everyday Montanans like:Bill, a Viet [...]
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A large percentage of the clients that seek services from MLSA each year have some sort of consumer related issue. Of our clients with consumer issues, many of them are asking for assistance with filing for bankruptcy. What we experience at MLSA is similar to what Rural Dynamics Inc reported in their recent blog [...] By Klaus Sitte, MLSA Litigation DirectorJohn and Mary are “closely approaching advanced age,” in Social Security parlance, age 64 and 63 respectively. Because of a serious heart condition, John is disabled and receives Social Security Disability benefits of $1280 per month. Mary retired at age 62 because of John’s failing health. Mary gets about $850 per month [...] By Jolene Bach, Rural Dynamics Inc.Last week, Montana Legal Services highlighted that the vast majority of consumers who file for bankruptcy do so as a direct result of medical debt and that three-quarters of those filers had private health insurance. Either these consumers were underinsured; were sick for an extended time period and lost [...] 1.5 million people in the United States filed for bankruptcy in 2010, an increase of 13.8% from 2009. Would you have guessed that 42% of all personal bankruptcies were a result of medical expenses and that 78% of the individuals who filed had health insurance? A Visual Tour of the Leading Causes [...] Over the last few months, MLSA has spotlighted the importance of self-help resources for low-income Montanans. In doing so, we have emphasized the true need for access to the courts for those who are unrepresented.Now, we want to start a different, but related, conversation about consumer law issues. We want to get the community [...] |
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