Bankruptcy and enlistment

[bigun]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)?

I'm helping a young man {not quite 22} with a bk petition that he'll file this week. Credit card debt is less than a $1K. The problem is, $50K worth of medical debt from a 4 day hospital stay last year with no insurance.
He really has nothing going for him post bk. He works overnight at a Target store getting about 30 hours a week at $10/hour. Bk won't fix that. He has in the past talked about joining a branch of the military and I think that would be his best bet at improving his lot in life. He has a GED, no criminal background,etc. Would the bk preclude him from enlisting?

TIA

[SHORTY LONG]

BG, there are many factors that the Military consider's in such cases. Your friend should
get his-self polished, and personally go discuss this with Recruiter[s]. The Army, and
Marine Corps may or may not be willing to offer-up a waiver. However, until your friend
tries, he will never know. Moreover, Hospitals work with people who are destitute.

[questionia]

THe bk will not be his biggest issue. The GED may be more of a hurdle. In fact, the bk may not be an issue at all if he is pursuing an MOS which does not require a clearance. If he is looking at the Army or National Guard he should go talk to a recruiter, be honest with him or her, and see what happens.

[publius]

Like questonia says, the biggest problem with a bankruptcy is that it could affect his eligibility for a security clearance. But that's only because bankruptcy is often an indication of financial irresponsibility, and financial irresponsibility is an indication that you're either susceptible to improper influence (e.g. from foreign agents offering a way to help you with your debts) or likely to be irresponsible in other areas of life (e.g. maintaining proper control of classified materials). The clearance authorities will often overlook a bankruptcy if extenuating circumstances show that the bankruptcy was not the result of financial irresponsibility on the applicant's part. Overwhelming medical debt from an unexpected injury or illness is one of the best excuses for a bankruptcy, so your friend will probably be okay, especially with less than $1,000 in voluntary debt. It would help if he tried to pay that debt off, but if he explains (and can document) the circumstances of the bankruptcy I doubt it'll be a problem even if the job he gets requires a security clearance.

[bigun]

Thank you all very much for your reponses.
He's filing Thursday morning and once this gets sorted out I'll just tell him to be upfront with his recruiter and see what happens. Them that don't ask don't get!
Shorty, he did try and negoiate with the hospital but, he messed it up. Last summer, he and his mother went to the financial office. His mom does have a fully paid for home {long story about how that came up in the discussion} and they offered to cut the bill in half if, his mom would sign a financial responsibility statement. She refused and here we are. This hospital does sue and he's gotten 2 rather pointed letters from a local attorney representing the hospital so, looks like his number is up.
He really should have gone in there by himself and just pled his case and see what they would do but once they thought they had a little leverage it was all over.
Just amazing that a ruptured apendix {sp} and a 4 day hospital stay would be this expensive.

[questionia]

Good luck with all this. One thought though. Very often hospitals are required or receive an incentive to provide so much indigent care per year. I would encourage your client to go back and work with the facility to see if that's an option. You didn't specify a state in your posts so it's difficult to know if this is the case. MN, CA, and GA have programs like this and I assume other states would as well.

Assuming this is a Chapter 13 bk it would reduce his overall obligation and provide a lower monthly payment as well. Of course, since it has reached an attorney is may be too late but it's worth a try.