When Immigration and Family Law Intersect

Papa was a great big man from Togo. His estranged wife once tried to run him over – he had the ripped jeans to prove it. Whenever he came to the office to work on his case, he brought those ripped jeans with him in a plastic shopping bag — as if no one would believe him without the jeans in his possession.

We learned that Papa originally came to the United States to study at a local college, but found himself out of money and out of status within a year. When I met him, he was working illegally as a line cook, sweating every night over grilled racks of ribs and ribeyes at a local chain restaurant. Papa’s wife, a U.S. citizen, used his immigration status and the promise of a green card to control him. However, she never filed for Papa’s green card and it seems likely she never planned to do so.

Clearing Up the Mystery of Bankruptcy

People in financial trouble sometimes ask, “Should I file for bankruptcy?” Unfortunately, bankruptcy is not a one-size-fits-all shirt. Instead, the response is almost always: “It depends.”

For many people, bankruptcy is an amorphous concept, known only from stories or movies. Therefore, people are often uncertain of the process and ramifications of filing for bankruptcy.

Bankruptcy is based on federal law, but some parts of it are affected by state law and local rules, which makes it unique to every city and state. It’s also individual to each person or family based on different circumstances. That’s why even many lawyers are unfamiliar with the nuances of filing for bankruptcy.