Legal-bankruptcy

This book was originally published in 1991. The reprint has not been updated so the material is very dated. I found little of practical use in this book and would recommend Bankruptcy Investing by Ben Branch instead.

This book is a collection of academic papers on the subject of corporate bankruptcy and distress. The writers present an excellent but somewhat repetitive body of information in a very passive manner. As such, the book is a real snore! So if you choose to read it, drink an extra large Starbucks coffee and bear down. I found reading it well worth the effort. Given the real human issues, hardships, brinkmanship, and huge volume of case work involved in bankruptcy and distress, the subject matter could have been presented in a much more entertaining manner.

The book is a composite of ideas presented at a conference, is far too academic and fails to capture the concept of "Investment Opportunities" as the title suggests. Although information and data regarding the violation of absolute priority is interesting it is repeated over and over again by different authors. Repeative information is a problem since each chapter is a discussion by a different author.

My daughter was in a serious car crash and has been unable to work or to pay her bills. We have been helping her as much as possible and finally talked her into starting over as her creditors have been calling constantly. We talked her into filing a Chapter 7 bankruptcy and then I went and purchased this book for her. It's called a "bankruptcy kit", which one would assume would have all the forms, etc.
The book was typical lawyer [garbage] and didn't speak of filing "yourself" at all but talked about "discuss this with your lawyer". Then, I checked the book for the proper forms to use and these in the book are unable to be copied and the author suggests contacting the law records company but doesn't give an address. I was VERY disappointed and frustrated and would tell people that to purchase it, is a waste of money. I am now going to order another, highly recommended book on bankruptcies, with forms you can use, and information to help you do it all yourself.

I was very disappointed in this book. The author took his old edition, literally made pen markings for most of the updates, inserted a few new pages (that dramatically varied in typeface, etc.), wrote "updated for 2003" on the cover, photocopied it, bound it, and published it. The production values were so bad, I'd be afraid to trust the editorial content.
I own (and have studied) several books on filing your own bankruptcy, and this is the only one I ever returned. It was hurridly written. It's not nearly as good as the other books in this category, and it's more expensive. I write consumer bankruptcy software for a living.