Records show Felix D. Arroyo has filed for bankruptcy amid a lawsuit over an $86,379 unpaid legal bill tied to his past suspension as Suffolk register of probate, a process that could allow him to wipe out the debt after years of making six figures.
In his Chapter 7 filing with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court, Arroyo claims that he owes roughly $86,576 in liabilities to two creditors — including Prince Lobel Tye LLP, the law firm suing him for non-payment — while having just $11,261 in assets.
The same court documents show that Arroyo gave more than $16,000 to his adult children in the two years leading up to his bankruptcy filing, including $2,000 for “legal advice” to his son and former City Councilor Ricardo Arroyo in 2023.
He also gave $2,500 to his son Felix G. Arroyo, the city’s former health chief who also sat on the City Council, so he could take the bar exam in September 2022.
Felix D. Arroyo was making $174,532 when he retired as Suffolk register of probate in March 2023, according to state payroll records. He was first elected to the six-figure probate position in 2014 and made $131,065 in his first year.
Prior to that, he worked in various government positions including as a former Boston city councilor and School Committee member, and at the state Department of Transitional Assistance, where he was paid more than $88,000 in 2011, his final year there, payroll records show.
His bankruptcy filing shows that he is now taking in a monthly income of roughly $7,328, between $5,060 for his state pension and $2,268 for social security, which amounts to nearly $88,000 per year. Arroyo claims, however, that he is left with a deficit of $18 each month after expenses, and has less than $2,000 in the bank.
Arroyo’s more than $60,000 pension was preserved after he was allowed to return to his job as Suffolk register of probate following a February 2017 suspension, during which time he was paid while the court system probed “serious operational deficiencies” in his office, according to reports at the time.
Had he not been allowed to return to work, his pension would have been cut in half, the Boston Globe reported at the time, prompting him to launch a legal defense fund through the Office of Campaign and Political Finance to preserve his job.
The fund, listed as closed as of Jan. 7, 2021, raised roughly $60,915, including a $1,000 contribution from “The Wu Committee,” OCPF records show.
Ultimately, Arroyo was allowed to return to work and finish out his six-year term, after an internal report commissioned by the state’s Trial Court found that Arroyo inherited an office where resistant employees undermined him and “racial name-calling” became a problem after he hired minority employees.
Prince Lobel, the law firm that defended him in connection with his suspension, filed suit against Arroyo in June 2023, claiming that he failed to pay roughly $48,588 in legal fees as of June 2018, a number that now stands at $86,379, according to his bankruptcy filing.
A notice of Arroyo’s Chapter 7 claim in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court was filed with the Suffolk Superior Court on May 20, along with a suggestion of an “automatic stay of proceedings,” which would impose an injunction in the Prince Lobel case, temporarily preventing further action in their pursuit of the legal debt.
While Arroyo’s filing makes the case for him being broke after years of taking in a high salary, it also shows that he was generous with his adult children, paying them more than $16,000 for birthday and wedding gifts, legal advice, bar exam fees, and, in the case of his daughter, “family support” in the two years before his claim.
Bankruptcy allows people struggling with debt to wipe out certain obligations and “get a fresh start,” according to a post on NOLO, which describes itself as the bankruptcy site, but often leaves filers with a significant hit to their credit score.
The Arroyo family’s legal and political troubles continued with the patriarch’s sons, Felix G. Arroyo, who was fired as health chief after a recently-dismissed sexual harassment claim, and Ricardo Arroyo, who lost his seat on the City Council after a string of scandals.
