I don't understand why we're going around in circles on this, but the author could afford to make the payments. According to him, the net cost was approx 60k over 10 years, split between the price to buy his ex-wife out and the after-rent operating costs. I don't believe bankruptcy courts are going to help with a payment this person could make without particular difficulty, even if it comes with plenty of regret.

We’re going in circles because I’m providing advice from experience, but I don’t think you have the same experience in navigating contract law to shed debt.

So my impressions were formed by spending a lot of time on credit card forums and reading perhaps several hundred bankruptcy stories over the years. Does chapter 11 -- or even 7 -- regularly help with debts where someone has a well paying job and can afford the payments on a house, but no longer wishes to? Because that, specifically, is where the author was.

I don't disagree at all that anyone in debt to a bank should use every avenue open to them, just as the bank will.

Needless to say, if you try to declare bankruptcy while being able to meet all required payments, that will simply result in having a court judgement to pay those debts.

Which is why if you need to move for work but can’t afford your mortgage, you move and then default, showing you couldn’t be gainfully employed and service all your debt and new housing expenses. The court isn’t going to force you to move back into your underwater property and leave your new job.

Well sure, but you'll have 80% of wages confiscated for up to 5 years. And you'll be unable to get another mortgage for longer than that, and paying more when you do.

You’re eligible for a new mortgage as soon as 1-2 years after a Chapter 13 BK discharge, depending on the loan product and GSE. Sometimes it might be a bit longer, but still nowhere near 7-10 years.

Not all jobs. If you have a security clearance, that would be pulled for bankruptcy.

Declaring bankruptcy can actually help save a security clearance in certain cases because it helps resolve the security clearance holder's susceptibility to coercion or bribery.

I don't hold a clearance though, so I can't speak from first hand experience. Always be upfront with your employer and clearance sponsor if you're considering bankruptcy.