When filing for bankruptcy and owning a home, it is important for a debtor to understand they will still have an obligation to the mortgage lender. With Chapter 7 bankruptcies the obligation is fairly obvious, the debtor will continue to make the normal monthly mortgage payment to the lender, but in a Chapter 13 bankruptcy, the debtor’s obligation may be less obvious. 

A 341 hearing is typically the only hearing you attend in your bankruptcy case. It is about a month after filing and will take about 5-10 minutes, depending on your case. The trustee of your case conducts the hearing and will go through yes or no questions with you to verify your case information. 

    Thanks to the attorneys at LifeBack Law Firm, computers are now exempt as household items under Minnesota bankruptcy exemptions for the first time in history. The world has changed a lot in the last 30 years. Computers have become a necessary household appliance to conduct all kinds of business. Many of us conduct our finances online, make medical appointments online, access our medical records online and do many other household functions.

When you file bankruptcy you have to list all of your creditors, both secured and unsecured. This is true, even if you plan on keeping your secured assets, like houses and vehicles, and will continue paying them. 

     The consensus is filing a Chapter 7 Bankruptcy is better than filing a Chapter 13 Bankruptcy. Why? I know this is ironic but Chapter 7 Bankruptcy looks better for your credit profile than Chapter 13 bankruptcy. Why? Because in Chapter 7 Bankruptcy, you get a discharge in 4 months whereas in Chapter 13 Bankruptcy you are in a repayment plan for 3-5 years before you get a discharge. This is why most of our clients prefer to file Chapter 7 Bankruptcy versus Chapter 13.

Your bankruptcy discharge is the official court order, stating you do not have personal liability on the dischargeable debts anymore. The bankruptcy discharge is the end goal of bankruptcy. Since the discharge is the end goal in most cases, a lot of potential clients wonder what would cause a discharge to not go through.

The 341 hearing or Meeting of Creditors is, typically, the only hearing you attend during your bankruptcy case. It is about a month after filing and will, usually, last less than 10 minutes. This meeting is a chance for the trustee in your case and any creditors to ask questions. The questions you will be asked typically are regarding assets, income, debts, and expenses. 

    LifeBack Law Firm protects Minnesotans from law firm marketing fraud. How do we do this? When a law firm insists on pretending to be in locations they are not, LifeBack Law Firm calls them out on it. We once discovered a law firm in Minnesota who possessed no less than 237 Google Map Listings. The owner of the firm thought he was a marketing genius. We did not. We do not find it funny at all when prospective clients are deceived about a law firm’s actual location.

When you file bankruptcy, you are placed in a metaphorical bubble of protection from your creditors. This bubble is called the automatic stay. The automatic stay protects you from collection activity during the bankruptcy, until you receive your bankruptcy discharge, which is the court order saying you do not have personal liability on your debt anymore. What the automatic stay means for you, is bankruptcy can stop creditor collection harassment, collection lawsuits from moving forward, collection calls, and statements from coming. 

    Section 523(a)(8) of the Bankruptcy Code makes student loan debt non-dischargeable unless debtor sues the student loan company and convinces a bankruptcy judge that repayment of the student loan debt would cause debtor an undue hardship. If ever there were more loaded words than “undue hardship”, I am not sure what they would be.

Bankruptcy is full of nuances and terms you may not hear every day. This blog will explore common phrases you may hear during your case and what they mean or are referring to. 

Divorce and a bankruptcy tend to go hand and hand. Often the question comes up, what should come first, the bankruptcy or the divorce. Depending on the facts of your specific case one should consider the consequences how a divorce may impact a bankruptcy filing. 

    We get this phone call often. The person on the other end of the call is a former client of LifeBack Law Firm. The client has a vehicle loan for 10k and the vehicle is now a pile of junk. Yes, it is unusual for a bank not to want their collateral back, unless the collateral is junk.

When you file bankruptcy, the debt you have incurred prior to filing, can be included in your bankruptcy case. After filing, any new debt you incur is your responsibility and is not subject to the automatic stay of bankruptcy or the bankruptcy discharge. 

     If you are thinking about filing a Chapter 7 Bankruptcy in Minneapolis, MN, you need to watch out for these two things before choosing a bankruptcy law firm that is right for you.

When you first speak to an attorney about filing bankruptcy and throughout your case, you may hear certain terms or phrases used frequently. This blog will explore some of the more common words and what they mean.