Can Casey Anthony File for Bankruptcy?

A colleague forwarded to me an article regarding the unbelievable amount of debt Casey Anthony acquired during the defense of her criminal charges in the state of Florida. At first glance, I thought “Wow. 500k in legal bills? I doubt her defense attorney became aware of the obligation on the day of trial. He must have been letting Casey ride.” Then another notion came to mind; an idea I wanted to discuss in our blog.

See, no matter who you are or what you may be accused of, you still have the right to seek the court’s protection from your creditors. I am sure many people reading this blog believe Casey Anthony is guilty of murder, or guilty of something, but regardless of her guilt, she still has the right to seek protection.

Now, most readers are not going to be in a situation where they are charged with murder (we sure hope not!) but even debts acquired during the prosecution for murder would normally be dischargeable. So, what am I saying? Well, most debts are dischargeable! If you are sitting around reading this and wondering if a court or a trustee is going to challenge your bankruptcy filing in an unfair, or arbitrary manner, remember – even Casey Anthony is probably going to avoid the hundreds of thousands of debt she has incurred as a result of her lies and bad faith disclosures. We, of course, are going to assume your situation is much, much different.

Those debts you owe your attorney? As much as it may pain me to say since I am an attorney, well, they are dischargeable! Your prior or current law firm is probably not going to be able to collect. The neighbor or family friend you owe money to? Same thing, they are probably dischargeable. And rightfully so; while we may feel a moral duty to pay people back, our legislature and society feels it is more important that consumers (you) have a chance to get that crippling debt off your shoulders. Hey, if Casey Anthony can use the law, shouldn’t you?