Seniors Filing for Bankruptcy in Massachusetts | What You Should Know

Seniors, senior citizens filing for personal bankruptcy. Good afternoon. My name is Neil Burns, and I’ve been asked to talk today about senior citizens applying for bankruptcy.

Along with my partner Roshan Jain, we represent victims of legal malpractice, personal injury, and bankruptcy here in Massachusetts. I’ve been doing this for 40 years, and we’ve noticed lately—this blog article is a few years old, but I’m recording this in December 2025—that the number of seniors applying for bankruptcy has increased. It was rising a few years ago, and it’s increasing again.

I’m not an economist, and I’m not going to tell you what the studies from the Federal Reserve Bank say, but I can tell you anecdotally that we’re getting more calls from seniors, and more calls overall, about filing bankruptcy.

The law is a wonderful law. Chapter 7 personal bankruptcy is a no-asset case for most people. You can keep your house with a homestead exemption, you can generally keep your car, you can keep your retirement accounts, and you can keep your personal property. You file using the federal petition and schedules, and it’s a very straightforward federal case.

These days, you don’t even have to go to court. We file everything electronically on your behalf, and the court hearing is held on Zoom. We prepare you, and we attend the hearing with you. From start to finish, bankruptcy typically takes about 90 days—from filing to receiving your federal discharge of consumer debt.

We can’t easily discharge student loans, and certain taxes are not dischargeable. However, consumer debt, repossessed vehicles, personal debt, and medical debt can all be discharged in federal bankruptcy.

If you have questions—whether you’re a senior or not—give us a call. I’m a senior citizen myself, although my partner and colleagues here at Burns & Jain are not. We offer a free initial consultation, and we want to help you.

The law is a great law. Call 617-227-7423. Thank you.