A family member has asked for my help to go with him during his divorce proceeding and as part of this process attend these "pre-trials" thus far and to the trial if it goes there. He has asked for my opinion/support along the way regarding how to potentially settle the divorce and part of this was understanding the finances of the marriage at a high level.
Long story short, there are 3 credit cards with a total balance of $12K and a line of credit / consolidated loan as well that totals about $13K for a total of $25K of this type of debt. From my understanding, the $13K is essentially other credit cards that got consolidated into this loc that I believe has a lower interest rate. All of the loans/CCs are in his name and will be his responsibility moving forward (long story), I haven't seen the paperwork, but he mentioned he is paying $700 per month on "all of the debt" and referenced it being the minimum payment.
My question is aren't there companies/services that will work with people in his situation to try and lower the amount owed to the credit card companies? This is an area I know absolutely nothing about and have done some Googling, but still getting caught up to speed and am trying to understand this better as he has been making minimum payments for a long time and is making no progress, nor realizes it either. Not sure if this changes anything, but I believe he has been making payments, just minimum or small payments to the CC companies, so it's not like he is a no-payer that hasn't sent them any money (which I would think would actually encourage them to want to settle/lower the amount due if he was a no payer vs them taking minimum payments for the next 5000 years).
A very off the reservation idea, but would bankruptcy be something to consider? Given his income ($45K) and CC behavior and if his divorce proceeding goes to court that will be another $5K-$10K in legal fees, I just can't see this ever changing/being resolved. Even if this was a possibility, the understanding is not there and it's clear any help/guidance from family does not register, which is a different, overarching problem as well.