Well I know what you are talking about.I got sick and am in about the same shape except I didnt have a lot of credit cards or owe lots of money and its still hard to get by.You need to talk to a couple of lawyers.If you owe lots of taxes the IRS is gonna get theirs if they can.Actually you need an attorney to deal with the IRS as well as another attorney for bankruptcy.All I can tell you about bankruptcy is what a lawyer told me,in my case I could keep 1 car and my house in this state.No more than $2000.00 in the bank.I dont remember now since its been about 3 years ago,but there was an amount of tools I could keep,maybe,and it was ones I used in my business,that was about it.It didnt sound like something you would want to do to me.It stays on your record,but I think its 10 years before you can get credit again.Also you can loose your house if you arent careful,I just dont remember what the lawyer said well enough now to be very much help to you.This is going to be overly simplistic,but not too far wrong when I say that a judge is going to decide what you will own,and how much you can have in your name for the next 10 years,and its not very much.Sort of like what you can scrape together if you are lucky and have a job that pays you about 10 dollars an hour,if that.I think they review it after a period of time as well,maybe every 6 months,or a year.My 2 cents worth is dont do it if you can keep from it.Tax lawyers for the back taxes may be able to tell you better than me,the best is not to just talk to one lawyer,get a few views on it.Back in the 1980s I had a few credit cards that I got behind on.I went to a lawyer to take bankruptcy and he talked me out of it.It took about 3 years but I paid all the cards off.You can make a deal with a credit card company like this,save up a couple hundred,call one that you owe 400 with their fees and say look,I will pay you 200 today only,will you wipe that debt off since its mostly fees anyway?Guess what,sometimes they will,especially if you tell them your next call is probably to a bankruptcy attorney,whether you actually were going to call one or not,but it doesnt hurt to let them think you might take bankruptcy since they will probably not get any fees and only a percentage of the principal if you did.The only way I use a credit card now is to buy something then pay it off in the next month.What you need to do is set yourself up a budget,and in your budget you pay some of the cards at least something if its only 5 dollars.It can get hard to get by,but thats a lot better than taking bankruptcy if you can work it out.You also need to save a few bucks every month.After you just send minimum payments you hit one with a good bit of money to knock down the principal,maybe with a deal like I described before.Another thing is to get them to fax you something in writing if you make a deal with them,or no deal.After the credit card companies saw that I would pay them back they worked with me.You are lots better off if they will work with you,I even refused to pay collection agencys.I sent the money to the company I owed.Now the laws are a little different.I think collection agencys buy your debt,then they can claim you owe them and make it hard on you.I only owed about 5000.00 dollars and it took me 3 years to pay it off.I owed the IRS 90 dollars and I ended up paying them 600.00 dollars with their fines or they were going to sieze my pay back in the 80s.The IRS can definitely make it hard on you.You may not realize it but that is far worse than owing credit cards,the IRS can sieze your disability if you get any.A tax attorney may be able to get it resolved for pennies on the dollar or nothing at all maybe.Another thing is that you can work if you can get a job doing something.You may need to get 2 jobs if you can.Im sure there are lots of different disabilities,but if you can do something at least try.The last thing you want to do is just sit there if you can keep from it.I couldnt move for a couple of months without about having a stroke or something because my blood pressure was so high,I couldnt even lay down,they would just throw a blanket over me at night in my recliner about 1/2 reclined.I was so messed up I didnt know what was going to happen next,and too stubborn to go to the doctor.When I finally did,he put me right in the hospital and partially got me fixed with a couple of stents.Thats how I still am with a bottle of nitro pills,high blood pressure,5 bypasses,5 stents,and now diabetes,but Im not dead.Also I dont sit in a chair all day since that deal a couple of years ago that I couldnt get out of the chair.I drive trucks from the field to the elevator in harvest season.It beats setting in a chair.This year I even helped work on the trucks and combines some.I doubt I ever go over the road again,but maybe I can do something as long as I can.Being sick sucks,especially when it takes a long time to get better,if you even do.
