Financial Hassles for the Hoff

Actor David Hasselhoff revealed recently that he is broke, claiming around $4,000 in liquid assets. The actor who has a career reaching back to the mid-1970s, and who has made hundreds of millions of dollars from starring roles in television shows such as “Baywatch” and “Knight Rider” is seeking to have his alimony payments to ex-wife Pamela Bach significantly reduced.This coincidentally follows his engagement to Haley Roberts, and the return of the “Hoff the Record” television series. In support of his request to have the $250,000 annual support payments sliced, he claims that while he is making $112,000 per month, he spends $66,000 of that before taxes, expenses, and alimony payments. Ex-wife Pamela maintains that her ex-husband is worth in excess of $120 million, working continuously, and has real estate, cars, jewelry, art, and other tangible assets. The actor, whose two children with Pamela Bach are both adults, has been paying support for a decade and claims to be dipping into his retirement savings in order to meet expenses.

It is indeed possible to be broke, but not be bankrupt from financial hassles. When finances get out of control, you can have a lot of assets but not enough cash. Meeting your bills and obligations can be difficult even when you’re making what other people would call a lot of money. Finances can go off the rails in many ways – divorces, career setbacks, bad investments, and other misadventures – but nobody can fix your finances except for you. It’s a good idea to deal with this before you get down to raking the change jar for grocery money. I’ve personally witnessed many couples who have just walked out of divorce court just to begin gearing up for bankruptcy court.

Very often, what people in financially difficult positions like this lack is sound advice from a third party and common sense. By all means, go back to court and renegotiate your obligation such as alimony and child support – these cannot be dismissed by filing bankruptcy. Sell some assets, and prepare to tighten your belt. However, you should also obtain the services of a highly qualified and well-referenced financial advisor.

Many people don’t know how to cut back, or where to cut back when it comes to getting their finances under control. If you’re in a jam like this, give us a call and arrange a free consultation. We deal with complicated cases all the time, and will be able to help you figure out what options are available to you in order to get you back on track. Even if you don’t have the Hoffs money, there are lots of actions that you can take aside from filing for Chapter 7 or Chapter 13 bankruptcy. We can work with and advocate for you and deploy our skilled staff to deliver you a good outcome. Whether you are visiting us at our headquarters in Fort Lauderdale or our new West Palm Beach location, you will still get the same attention to detail and personalized service that we bring to every case.