During your bankruptcy you will be asked about the likelihood that you may inherit any property or money. Your attorney will likely ask you this question and the trustee will also let you know if you do inherit any funds during the bankruptcy you need to let the trustee’s office know. Why? Because the bankruptcy estate will have an interest in the inherited property.

When a creditor is owed a debt by the bankruptcy filer and the bankruptcy filer is owed a debt from the creditor and consequently creating a mutual obligation, the creditor can setoff the mutual debt. This means, instead of the creditor paying their debt to the bankruptcy filer the creditor can setoff (subtract) that amount from the amount owed to them by the bankruptcy filer.

I have recently started running, actually, I have recently started running again. Running is one of those activities that I do not enjoy. But I make a point to do it because I work in an office and spend most of my day sitting.

Issues with your homeowners association can be stressful. Homeowners associations have the power to place a lien on your property or foreclose. When you get behind in your association fees you are putting your property at risk.

When filing for bankruptcy you will have to disclose any transfers of assets you may have had in the last 2 years prior to filing. Assets include cash assets as well as other assets: vehicles, real estate, furniture, or retirement accounts. And you may be asked about assets transferred in the last six years, if the transfer involved a friend or family member.

Recently, I started watching a new television series call Ted Lasso and I was quite wonderfully surprised. This is a show about positivity, kindness, and thoughtfulness. Even faced with the ugliest of characters, Ted Lasso continues his crusade of positivity.

This is a message we should all embrace. Many times I find myself passively watching some television show and the characters are awful to one another or some reality tv show that displays people at their absolute worst. At best, maybe I get a laugh from it, and at the worst, I walk away with a dampened outlook on human kind.

It is tempting to repay friends and family members, after all, these are the people that were there for you when you were in a bind. So naturally, when you find yourself in a position to finally repay a friend or family member that is exactly what you are going to do. While this seems like the right thing to do, during a bankruptcy, it can lead to a lot of complications.

Under the Internal Revenue Code, the general rule is that the discharge of a debt is a form of gross income. The forgiveness of a debt does sound nice, but it does come with some consequences. For example, if a creditor forgives a debt of $20,000, you would have an additional $20,000 for taxable income. At a conservative tax rate of 15% you would owe an additional $3,000 in federal income taxes for that year.

Schedules A/B of the bankruptcy petition requires the debtor to list and describe all real estate that the debtor has an interest in. This includes: life estates, remainderman interests, interests in mineral rights, and partial interests in real estate.

As a general matter, homestead exemptions are to be liberally construed in favor of the exemption. All presumptions are to be made in favor of preservation and retention of the homestead. This is good news for a bankruptcy filer who wishes to protect/exempt their homestead when filing bankruptcy.

The effect of claiming an exemption is to technically exclude property from the bankruptcy estate.

Recently, I started watching a new television series call Ted Lasso and I was quite wonderfully surprised. This is a show about positivity, kindness, and thoughtfulness. Even faced with the ugliest of characters, Ted Lasso continues his crusade of positivity. This is a message we should all embrace.

Under the Internal Revenue Code, the general rule is that the discharge of a debt is a form of gross income. The forgiveness of a debt does sound nice, but it does come with some consequences.

For example, if a creditor forgives a debt of $20,000, you would have an additional $20,000 for taxable income. At a conservative tax rate of 15% you would owe an additional $3,000 in federal income taxes for that year.

Everyone knows the old adage, no good deed goes unpunished, and this is also true in bankruptcy. So, while it may be noble to help out a friend or family member, it can also complicate your bankruptcy. Expensive gifts, gifted while you are insolvent can be a point of contention in your bankruptcy, but what about other good deeds: lending money, co-signing on loans, or taking out loans for someone else?

It is tempting to repay friends and family members while before filing a bankruptcy. After all, these are the people that were there for you when you were in a bind. So naturally, when you find yourself in a position to finally repay a friend or family member that is exactly what you are going to do.

Unfortunately, repayments of loans to family members and close friends are considered preferential payments.

When filing a Chapter 13 bankruptcy the number one question by potential clients is: what will be my monthly payment? There are many factors that are considered when determining a chapter 13 payment:

• income,
• necessary expenses,
• non-exempt assets,
• repayments to creditors in the 90 days prior to filing,
• and repayments to friends and family members.

Occasionally clients will tell me that they would only like to file bankruptcy on one or just a few of their creditors. While this is not entirely possible, there are some similar options.