Texas bankruptcy: Financial trauma as bad as PTSD for some vets

On Behalf of | May 15, 2013 | Bankruptcy |

America’s military men and women have faced a lot of challenges to their courage as they’ve deployed to hotspots around the world in the past decade and more.

While it’s true that they all volunteer for their service, the duty they perform is still viewed in Texas and the rest of the country as sacrifice worthy of special acknowledgement. That’s why they get special benefits like the college tuition support. If they deploy to a war zone, they get extra hazardous-duty pay that goes untaxed. When they return home, if they’ve suffered some sort of injury while on duty, they receive Veterans Administration disability benefits.

To the casual observer this might leave the impression that many who have served are sitting on a pile of cash and living pretty. But that is not necessarily the case. Veteran advocacy groups report that due to a lagging job market and slow processing of benefits, too many veterans find themselves facing a threat more elusive at home than they faced on the front –- a financial crisis that elevates anxieties and feeds fears of bankruptcy.

The fear is that they will lose everything in bankruptcy. But more often than not this is a fear founded on misinformation. To clear the air individuals in Texas now detached from the service who face such circumstances should be contacting an experienced debt relief attorney to get the facts.

The truth of the matter is that filers for bankruptcy in Texas are entitled to exempt a primary residence. Cars, furniture, and valuables with sentimental value can be protected. And specific to military veterans, benefits, pensions and disability payments are also exempt.

It’s not surprising that the sense of duty that is part and parcel to successful military service would carry over and be refocused on family when a veteran returns home.  And it’s understandable that a vet, challenged in fulfilling their new duty by circumstances outside their control, might fall into deadly despair.

Anyone in such a plight should seek all the help available, legal and otherwise, to help them get back on their feet.

Source: NBC News, “Financial strain pushes many veterans to the breaking point,” Bill Briggs, May 4, 2013

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