Debt and Bankruptcy (Ask a Lawyer)

Rating:
Summary: Excellent, Beginner's Guide To Bankruptcy
Review: Steven D. Strauss' Debt and Bankruptcy is an excellent, if not short, book on the personal bankruptcy process.

Because of its small size (around 140 pages, plus appendices), this is obviously not an exhaustive review of the entire legal process of bankruptcy, but manages to pack a lot of very useful and interesting information within its covers. I read the entire book over the course of a weekend, and was very impressed with how easy to read and understand the material was.

I have not read many other books on the bankruptcy process, but I certainly did learn quite a few useful things that I did not previously know from reading it.

Although the book briefly touches on other forms of bankruptcy, Chapter 7 and Chapter 13 are the two, main types covered. There is a strong bias towards Chapter 7, which is probably the best solution for the majority of consumers seeking debt relief under bankruptcy protection.

Strauss' writing style is enjoyable and to the point. Most chapters are fairly brief, and delve right into the subjects at hand. There are some examples sprinkled throughout the book, but they are extremely limited in scope, and usually only a few sentences long. However, the information presented elsewhere makes the law easy enough to understand that examples are largely unnecessary.

I certainly enjoyed reading this book, and found it very useful, informative and entertaining. It is certainly well worth the modest cover price. For those of you contemplating personal bankruptcy, this is an excellent resource, especially if you are largely unfamiliar with the bankruptcy process itself. My only complaint is that it could have obviously been much longer and more detailed. Still, for its size, you are definitely getting your money's worth.