Kevin Zazzera: A Staten Island Bankruptcy Attorney Who Helps People Start Over

Nobody plans to file for bankruptcy. It usually follows a layoff, a hospital bill that kept growing, a divorce, or a small business that ran out of runway. By the time someone finally calls a lawyer, they have often spent months dodging phone calls and doing math at the kitchen table at two in the morning. On Staten Island, a good number of those calls go to Kevin Zazzera, an attorney who has handled consumer debt cases in the borough for more than 25 years.

A practice built around consumer bankruptcy

Kevin Zazzera studied English at SUNY Stony Brook, graduating in 1990, and earned his law degree from California Western School of Law in 1994. He is admitted to practice in both New York and New Jersey. His main focus is consumer bankruptcy, and his office reports having filed more than 1,700 successful consumer cases over the years. Foreclosure defense is the other big piece of the work, which makes sense, because the two problems so often arrive together. A family falls behind on credit cards, then on the mortgage, and suddenly both are on the table.

Chapter 7, Chapter 13, and what they actually do

Most people hear “bankruptcy” as one single thing. It is really a handful of different tools, and the right one depends on income, property, and the kind of debt causing the trouble.

Chapter 7 is the one most people picture. A trustee reviews your finances, and qualifying unsecured debts such as credit cards, medical bills, and personal loans can be wiped out. Eligibility turns on a means test that compares your household income with the state median. The case often wraps up within a few months, and New York’s exemption rules protect a good share of what people own, so losing everything is far rarer than the fear suggests.

Chapter 13 works differently. Instead of erasing debt up front, you propose a repayment plan that runs three to five years and is paid out of your income. It suits someone who earns too much for Chapter 7, or someone who wants to keep a house and needs time to catch up on missed mortgage payments. Chapter 11 also appears among the practice areas listed for Kevin Zazzera, and it generally serves businesses and individuals whose debts are too large for the other options.

The moment the phone stops ringing

One of the first things a filing does is trigger the automatic stay, a court order that halts most collection activity right away. Calls from collectors, wage garnishments, and lawsuits over unpaid accounts are put on hold while the case moves forward. For plenty of clients, that pause is the first real relief they have felt in a year. It does not fix everything, and each situation needs a close look, but it explains why timing matters. Waiting until an account is frozen or a sale date is set leaves far fewer options than calling a few weeks earlier.

When a foreclosure notice shows up

Staten Island is a place where a lot of people own their homes, many of them for decades. When a foreclosure notice arrives, the instinct is often to freeze, or to leave the envelope unopened on the counter. Neither helps. A foreclosure case runs on deadlines, and missing one can cost you the chance to respond at all. Foreclosure defense means reading the paperwork closely, checking whether the lender has followed the rules, and deciding whether a Chapter 13 plan or some other route gives the family its best chance of staying put. No honest attorney can promise an outcome, but almost everyone is better off with someone in their corner.

Personal attention instead of an assembly line

Bankruptcy involves a mountain of paperwork, and some firms treat it like a conveyor belt. The Law Office of Kevin Zazzera describes its approach differently: personal attention, and taking as much stress off the client as possible so they can think clearly and begin again. That matters more than it sounds. People walk in embarrassed, often convinced they have failed at something basic, and a lawyer who explains each step in plain language changes how the whole process feels. You can read more about the practice at bankruptcylawyerinstatenisland.com.

The questions people feel silly asking

Will I lose my car? What happens to my retirement account? Does this follow me forever? These come up in nearly every first conversation, and none of them is silly. Car loans and mortgages are secured debts and get treated differently from credit cards, many retirement accounts have strong legal protection, and a bankruptcy does stay on a credit report for years. Still, plenty of people find their credit begins to recover once old balances stop growing and late fees stop stacking up. The honest answer to each question depends on your numbers, so ask all of them out loud.

Getting ready for a first meeting

A first consultation goes faster when you bring documents: recent pay stubs, the last couple of tax returns, bank statements, a list of creditors with rough balances, mortgage and car loan details, and any court papers or collection letters you have received. Do not worry if the pile is messy. Federal law also requires credit counseling from an approved agency before you file and a financial management course before the case is finished, and an attorney can walk you through both.

Visiting the office

The Law Office of Kevin Zazzera is at 182 Rose Avenue, Staten Island, NY 10306. It is open Monday through Friday, 9 AM to 6 PM, and the phone number is (718) 987-2700. If debt has started to crowd out the rest of your life, a conversation with Kevin Zazzera is a sensible place to begin.