Rafael Recalde, Esq.

Why a securities lawyer handles bankruptcies

Bankruptcy is where law and finance collide. A balance sheet has to be read correctly, a means test calculated precisely, a reorganization plan stress-tested against what creditors and trustees will actually accept. That is finance work as much as courtroom work, and it is the world Rafael Recalde comes from.

Before founding his own firm, Mr. Recalde built his career in securities and financial regulation, including work shaped by SEC regulatory practice and service in the legal department of Citigroup Latin America, where billion-dollar cross-border transactions demanded precision under pressure. He is admitted to The Florida Bar and the District of Columbia Bar, and practices before the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida.

That background shapes how your case is handled. Business debt, personal guarantees, investment accounts, foreign income, multi-entity structures: these are familiar terrain from a career spent inside large financial institutions. Mr. Recalde has seen how creditors approach these cases from the inside, and that perspective informs every negotiation.

Financial distress does not make you a lesser client.

The people who walk through this door, business owners after a brutal stretch, families hit by medical bills or a layoff, professionals whose income dropped faster than their obligations, are honest people using a legal tool that Congress built for them. They are treated with the same respect as any boardroom client, in English or in Spanish. Se habla español, and Mr. Recalde also works with French, Italian, and Portuguese speaking clients.

How Rafael approaches a case

What working together looks like

1. 1

   First conversation

   You talk, we listen

   The 3-minute online check or a phone call. Plain questions about income, debts, and what's being threatened. You'll leave the first conversation knowing which chapter likely fits and why.

2. 2

   Review

   Rafael reads your file personally

   Before any fee is paid, the attorney reviews your assessment, your documents, and the strategy questions: timing, exemptions, whether one spouse or both should file.

3. 3

   Filing

   The case goes on file, the stay goes to work

   Filing triggers the automatic stay under 11 U.S.C. § 362, which stops garnishments, foreclosure sales, repossessions, and most collection activity while the case proceeds.

4. 4

   Through discharge

   We walk it to the finish

   The 341 meeting, the course certificates, the plan payments if there is a plan, all on your calendar, all visible in the portal, until the court enters your discharge and the debts are behind you.

Court costs and filing fees may apply and are explained in writing before any case begins.