Retired Suffolk County Register of Probate Felix D. Arroyo has filed for bankruptcy amid a dispute over unpaid legal fees. (Herald file photo)
Felix D. Arroyo filed for bankruptcy amid a lawsuit over $86,379 in unpaid legal fees related to his past suspension as Suffolk probate registrar, records show, a move that could allow the longtime six-figure earner to wipe out the debt.
In his Chapter 7 bankruptcy filing in U.S. Bankruptcy Court, Arroyo claims he has assets of just $11,261 but owes about $86,576 to two creditors, including the law firm Prince Lobel Thailand LLP, which he is suing for non-payment.
The same court documents show Arroyo gave more than $16,000 to his adult children in the two years leading up to his bankruptcy filing, including paying his son, former City Councilman Ricardo Arroyo, $2,000 in 2023 for “legal advice.”
The mayor also awarded his son, Felix G. Arroyo, a former city health commissioner and city council member, $2,500 to help him take the bar exam in September 2022.
According to state pay records, Felix D. Arroyo will earn $174,532 a year when he retires as Suffolk County probate attorney in March 2023. He was first elected to the six-figure salary position of probate attorney in 2014, making $131,065 in his first year.
Previously, he served in various government positions, including as a Boston City Council member and school board member, and was paid more than $88,000 in 2011, his final year at the state Department of Transition Services, according to pay records.
According to his bankruptcy filing, his current monthly income is about $7,328, of which $5,060 is state pension and $2,268 is Social Security, totaling about $88,000 a year. But after expenses, Arroyo claims he is left with an $18 deficit each month and less than $2,000 left in his bank account.
According to reports at the time, President Arroyo’s pension of more than $60,000 was preserved when she was allowed to return to her job as Suffolk County Registrar of Probate after being suspended in February 2017. During her suspension, she remained on the payroll while a court investigated “serious operational deficiencies” in her office.
The Boston Globe reported at the time that if he had not been reinstated, his pension would have been cut in half, so he set up a legal defense fund through the Office of Campaign Finance to protect his job.
The fund, which reportedly closed as of Jan. 7, 2021, raised approximately $60,915, including a $1,000 donation from the “Wu Committee,” according to OCPF records.
Ultimately, Arroyo was allowed to return to work and complete his six-year term after an internal report commissioned by a state district court found that he inherited a workplace where rebellious employees had undermined him and where “racial epithets” were a problem after he hired minority employees.
Prince Lovell, the law firm that represented Arroyo in connection with the suspension, filed suit against him in June 2023 for unpaid legal fees of about $48,588 as of June 2018 and now totaling $86,379, according to the bankruptcy filing.
President Arroyo’s notice of petition for Chapter 7 bankruptcy in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court was filed in Suffolk Superior Court on May 20, accompanied by a proposed “automatic stay of litigation” to impose an injunction in the Prince Lobel case and temporarily block further action in pursuing legal debts.
While Arroyo’s complaint establishes that he was bankrupt despite many years of receiving a high salary, it also shows that he was generous to his adult children, paying them birthday and wedding gifts, legal advice, bar exam fees and more than $16,000 in “family support” in the two years prior to the filing.
According to a post on NOLO, bankruptcy gives people struggling with debt a chance to release certain obligations and get a “fresh start.” Although NOLO bills itself as a bankruptcy site, it often takes a big hit on the credit scores of bankruptcy filers.
The Arroyo family’s legal and political troubles continue with patriarch’s son, Felix G. Arroyo, recently being fired as health secretary after sexual harassment allegations were dismissed, and Ricardo Arroyo losing his city council seat after a series of scandals.
