§1 Which bills should I continue paying before filing bankruptcy?

Start from what stays your responsibility no matter what: debts secured by property you want to keep, and debts the Bankruptcy Code was never designed to erase. Falling behind on these can create a separate, faster-moving problem, a repossession, a foreclosure, a support arrearage, or a license suspension that a later bankruptcy filing won't undo. Get these right first, and the rest of your budget follows from there.

Domestic support obligations — child support and alimony

This is the one category to treat as non-negotiable. Child support and alimony are never dischargeable in bankruptcy, and they hold first priority among unsecured claims if arrears exist. More importantly for day-to-day purposes, bankruptcy doesn't pause collection of support the way it pauses most other creditors: under 11 U.S.C. §362(b)(2), the automatic stay does not stop wage withholding for support, establishing or modifying a support order, or the Department of Revenue's enforcement tools.

In Massachusetts specifically, the DOR Child Support Enforcement Division can suspend a driver's license, professional license, or recreational license once a payor falls into arrears, under Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 119A, §16, a step the Registry of Motor Vehicles has no discretion to waive once DOR has made its determination. Falling behind on support isn't something a bankruptcy filing will fix later, so it belongs at the very top of the list, ahead of every unsecured account.

Secured debt on property you're keeping

A mortgage or car loan is secured by the property itself. Stop paying, and the lender can move toward foreclosure or repossession on its own schedule, a timeline that doesn't wait for your bankruptcy filing date. If you intend to keep the home or the vehicle, staying current (or getting current before you file) is what protects your ability to do that.

Current taxes and essential expenses

Most recent income tax debt survives a bankruptcy filing, see our companion article on Massachusetts tax debt options for how older tax debt is treated differently. Rent, utilities, and insurance aren't dischargeable debts in any meaningful sense either, they're ongoing costs of keeping your household running through the filing process, and falling behind creates its own separate risk (eviction, disconnection, lapsed coverage) that has nothing to do with your bankruptcy timeline.

Where unsecured debt like credit cards fits in

Once the obligations above are accounted for, unsecured debt, most credit cards, medical bills, and personal loans, is generally what your bankruptcy filing itself is designed to address, whether through a Chapter 7 discharge or a Chapter 13 repayment plan. That's a decision about filing strategy and timing, not a payment instruction, and it belongs in a conversation with your attorney rather than a rule of thumb applied to every account the same way.

This table is general guidance, not a substitute for a review of your specific accounts — which column an account belongs in can change based on your chapter, your income, and your assets.

The category that trips people up is anything secured by non-essential collateral — a boat, a second vehicle, jewelry on a pawn-style loan. Those follow the same rule as a car you're keeping: pay it if you want to keep the collateral, and if you don't, that's a conversation to have with your attorney about surrendering the property rather than a payment to simply let lapse.

§2 Can recent credit-card charges prevent the debt from being discharged?

Yes. Federal law creates a presumption of fraud for certain last-minute charges, which shifts the practical burden onto the debtor to prove the charge wasn't made in bad faith. This is a legal risk to understand and avoid — not a spending allowance to plan around. As of the current inflation adjustment 90 FR 8941 — effective for cases filed April 1, 2025 through March 31, 2028 — the presumption applies at these levels:

"Luxury" is doing real work in that phrase — courts have generally read it to exclude reasonable spending on food, clothing, gas, rent, and utilities, even in the weeks before filing. It's more often applied to things like vacations, jewelry, or nonessential electronics purchased on credit. Charges below these dollar thresholds, or made outside the 90/70-day windows, aren't automatically safe — a creditor can still allege actual fraud under 11 U.S.C. §523 — but without the presumption, that's a materially harder case for the creditor to win.

§3 What should I tell collection agencies while preparing to file?

Be honest about your financial hardship without disclosing your filing strategy or timeline in detail, and don't make payment promises you don't intend to keep. Two layers of law are already working in your favor before you've filed anything:

• Massachusetts debt collection rules. The Attorney General's 940 CMR 7.00 limits how often and when a collector can contact you, restricts workplace calls once you object, and bars deceptive collection tactics — regardless of whether you ultimately file.
• Attorney representation. Once you retain a bankruptcy attorney, most collectors are required to route communications through counsel, and calls typically drop off sharply.
• The automatic stay. The moment your petition is filed, 11 U.S.C. §362 legally requires creditors to stop collection calls, letters, lawsuits, and wage garnishment attempts.

What you say to a collector in the meantime can't undo a fraud presumption created by a recent luxury charge, and it can't accelerate the automatic stay before you've actually filed — so the highest-value move here isn't a script for the phone, it's getting your filing timeline right in the first place.