If you are looking at filing bankruptcy in Minneapolis, Minnesota, you may be wondering what steps you have to take and what you need to file. Every case is different, therefore the below is a general guideline and idea. 

Life happens, we do not set out to owe our creditors money we cannot payback. If you are in a situation where you owe your utility providers for a current service you use, you may be wondering, can I include my utility provider as a creditor in my bankruptcy?
The answer, is yes. Although, you can include your utility providers, read on to find out requirements for doing so.

Almost every client wants to know where their case will be filed and whether the county they live in is the location for filing. The county you live in does determine where your case is filed, but your case will not be filed in your local county courthouse. 

If you are in a current chapter 13 or thinking of filing a chapter 13, you may be wondering what happens if your income changes during your pending bankruptcy. This is an excellent question, as a chapter 13 bankruptcy commits your disposable income during the 3-5 years of the case.  

It is very common that two people will co-sign on each other’s debt. Whether this is a spouse, parent, child, or significant other. If one liable party on the loan decides to file bankruptcy, you may be wondering what will happen to the other party/the co-signor? 

If you are filing bankruptcy you may be wondering, can my bankruptcy discharge possibly not go through? This is a common worry and I can see why. If you do all the work of filing a bankruptcy, you don’t want to last second not receive a discharge of your debts. I am here to tell you not to worry- read on to find out why. 

Just because you file bankruptcy does not mean your spouse has to file with you. If your spouse does not file, you may be wondering, will they be impacted by my filing? 

For most chapter 7 and chapter 13 cases, the words adversary proceeding will not come up. Most clients will complete their bankruptcy without having any. If you have an adversary proceeding or there is a chance that you may, you may be wondering what it is? An adversary proceeding is litigation within your bankruptcy case.

A bankruptcy filing will discharge your personal liability on most debt. This includes secured assets, for example, vehicles or mortgages. Although your personal liability on the loan is dischargeable, if you want to keep the secured property you have to keep making payments. Some creditors will also request you sign a reaffirmation agreement after your chapter 7 bankruptcy is filed. A reaffirmation agreement typically says that you will keep your terms of your debt the same as if you had not filed bankruptcy, including your personal liability on the loan. 

A preference is essentially a payment that benefits one creditor over others. This commonly occurs with payments to unsecured creditors of $600 or more in the 90 days prior to filing or to a relative of $600 or more in the 1 year prior to filing. The trustee in your chapter 7 bankruptcy will want the funds received from this preference, to distribute to all of your creditors. 

A fraudulent transfer is a transfer before a bankruptcy filing with some type of fraud that the bankruptcy trustee can claw back. Common examples are when something is sold or transferred with the intent to hinder, delay, or defraud your creditors or you transfer something under fair market value before filing. But there are other types of fraudulent transfers as well. Your attorney will go through your case with you and should let you know if there is any risk with filing and fraudulent transfers. Your attorney should be able to discuss if there are any possible defenses, as well. Under federal law the look back period for fraudulent transfers is two years. 

A chapter 7 bankruptcy is referred to as a liquidation bankruptcy. This is because any assets above what the bankruptcy exemptions cover will have to be liquidated or you will have to pay their value to keep them. Non-exempt assets can happen in both Minnesota and Federal exemption cases. That being said, they are more common in Minnesota exemption cases. Let’s look at a few examples:

When you file for bankruptcy you have to list all of your creditors, including those you intend to keep. For example, even though you may want to keep your home and keep paying your mortgage, the mortgage company will have to be listed in the case and receive notice of the filing. If you are thinking about filing bankruptcy or already have, you may be wondering how your mortgage company receiving notice of your filing will impact your mortgage.

Medical debt is dischargeable in bankruptcy, both in chapter 7 and chapter 13 cases.

Here, at LifeBack Law Firm, we make filing bankruptcy as simple as we can. There are not countless worksheets to fill out, we do the drafting for you, and a licensed attorney will be working with you during the bankruptcy process. All the attorneys at LifeBack Law Firm are licensed to practice in Minnesota. Therefore, we can only file bankruptcy cases in Minnesota.

 I was at a hearing just the other day where someone filed their chapter 7 bankruptcy case pro se, meaning they did not have attorney representation. Although, it is perfectly legal to file a case for yourself, typically it is not a good idea to do so. This is because bankruptcy law is vast and nuanced.