My brother lost his house, his car, and his kids - advice needed.

[lowpockets]

Well, as the title implies - this post is kind of a downer. My parents and grandparents are "finished with him" and I feel like if I don't help him, he will either end up dead, in jail, or somewhere in between. First, I will give a short background of the situation and then ask some basic questions that hopefully some people might be able to give me some feedback on it.

He is 30 years old, divorced with a 5 and 6 year old (my niece and nephew) kids, of which he HAD possesion of. He has defaulted on his mortage for his house and the bank/mortgage company has officially taken the house away. He didn't make a car payment for over a year and since he co-signed with my dad (he never had good credit as an adult), my dad took the car and is making payments so that it doesn't effect his credit. The kids are with their mother. I go to school in New York though, and I will be seeing him for the first time since all of this happened on Thursday once finals are over. The cause of all this is alcoholism. I mentioned he moved out east to stay with my sister and her husband for a few weeks (she is making him attend AA daily, but he is quickly loosing focus/motivation). I am 99% sure drugs are not a part of this problem. He lies about his situation though and tries to downplay this significance of things, and accordingly, I am about 50% sure he might have some sort of gambling problem - compounding the financial problems. I could go into more details, but I think this is a good enough background for now. The bottom line is that he is an alcoholic, he lost everything, and now I am not sure how to help him.

Like I said my parents are done with him and I feel like it is my responsibility to do whatever the hell I can do to try to get him a new start in life. So, my questions have to do with bankruptcy and "starting over." I am pretty sure it is going to cost some money (which he has none of - and even though I am only a 21 year old, I have some money saved up and even though my location says busto - I have a few thousand dollar bankroll left) to file bankruptcy. I am pretty sure that this is something that HAS to happen, and I don't mind paying for it. How much is this going to cost and if anyone has any experience with this, how much effort and energy is this going to require of me? After we get a lawyer to file the bankruptcy is he in the clear as far as the creditors coming after him? What about child support - if he files bankruptcy is it possible that is ex-wife could come after his for owed child support or other support?

Also, another issue that is becoming a problem is that he wants to go back to his hometown in the Midwest asap. He is bored at my sisters (he told me that he can count the number of days over the past 10 years on one hand that he hasn't drank until he fell asleep). But, I don't see there being anything positive to going back to the old environment that he was in. He cites wanting to get his feet on the ground and to start over as reasons to "go home." Is there anyway that after he files bankruptcy he can apply for unemployment or any other type of federal aide until he can find some type of job? I am pretty sure that he is better off staying out east for another month or so (he has been there for only a week and a half) before he even thinks about going back home, but I am not sure. I understand that eventually he wants to be close to his kids again too. But, you can see why I am reluctant to allow him to go back home and be around the same environment (friends that drink, etc). Any thoughts on other reasons he should stay away from home for a while?

If you have read this far, thank you. I appreciate any help that you guys can give. I am young, so you can imagine that I have never had to deal with anything like this before (taking care of my older brother who I grew up looking up to). Its been emotionally tough for me to see what my parents are going through (my dad found my mom crying in the kithen at 6am today -mothers day- because her oldest son is a [censored]-up). Its also been tough to listen to my brother go through all of the emotions of being sad, mad, depressed, and denial. Thanks again for any help or suggestions.