The United States is unique in the world as to its bankruptcy laws. No other country gives its ordinary citizens the ability to start fresh, without debt, without stripping them of almost all their possessions.
Bankruptcy is a biblical law. Its origins are in Deuteronomy 15:1‐2, which states, “At the end of every seven years you shall
grant a release. And this is the manner of the release: every creditor shall release what he has lent to his neighbour. He shall not exact it of his neighbour, his brother, because the LORD’s release has been proclaimed.”
The Old Testament is also pretty harsh on lending money with interest, Ezekiel 18:13 says, “Lends at interest, and takes profit; shall he then live? He shall not live. He has done all these abominations; he shall surely die; his blood shall be upon himself.” Attorney Peter Francis Geraci is one of the top experts on bankruptcy law in the United States.
His law firm manages over 1.2 billion in debt a year under chapter 7 or 13 of the United States bankruptcy code, under which individuals may either discharge or repay their debts. Geraci Law limits its practice to only three states, in the Midwest, Illinois Indiana and Wisconsin, but files about 1.8% of the bankruptcies filed in the entire United States.
Many people who fled to the New World were escaping debtor’s prisons. The debtor’s prison and London was dug under the bed of the river Thames, so that it was constantly wet and dripping water, and the debtors were trapped by iron grates in the muddy caverns. Oglethorpe founded the colony of Georgia as a haven from debt, but other colonies such as Pennsylvania, owned by the Duke of York, had harsh debtor laws.
After independence, with the later the signing of the US Constitution in 1787, the concept of ability to free oneself from debt, without horrible repercussions, became enshrined in American law.
The U.S. Constitution provides that Congress shall make uniform laws relating to bankruptcy. Article 2 section 8. At various times, Congress did not get around to making bankruptcy laws, and made them only in response to economic crises, such as currency failure caused by state bank failures in 1842. However, since 1898 the United States has had a uniform bankruptcy law continuously.
In 2016, about 800,000 individuals filed to either discharge or reorganise their debt. That is less than two out of every thousand and the population of over 360 million. So it is proof that having a bankruptcy law does not affect the economy, jeopardise creditors’ rights, or have anything but a beneficial effect. Those countries that keep their citizens and that, or worse yet, provide no way to borrow unless there is absolutely no risk to the creditor, often find a great disparity between the assets of the great majority of the population, and those of the wealthy elite. Since the United States tightened up its bankruptcy laws, in 1978, and again in 2005, United States is also seen a greater disparity between the rich and the poor.
Geraci Law has been in existence since 1977, starting as a solo practice, and growing to more than 70 attorneys today. Its motto is ’changing your life for the better’ and that is exactly what the bankruptcy law the United States is designed to do. Geraci Law has been one of the leaders in law firm administration software, having full‐time programmers on staff coding in creating proprietary software to manage its multi‐office, multi‐attorney law practice. Although the practice of bankruptcy law does lend itself to computerisation, proprietary algorithms created by attorney Peter Francis Geraci that are embedded in the software, allow the law firm’s management to produce quality legal services at a low cost. Recently, Geraci Law instituted a program to eliminate email, and the attendant virus and denial of service attacks that come with using email, with its proprietary client corner portal, on its websites www.infotapes.com and www.elimAdebt.com.
Name: Peter Francis Geraci
Company: Geraci Law LLC
Email: [email protected]
Web: www.elimadebt.com
Address: 55 E Monroe St.
#3400, Chicago IL 60654
Phone: 1-800-CALL-PFG
