It is that time of year, again. Tax filing season is upon us. If you find yourself in a Chapter 13 Bankruptcy in Minnesota, you may be wondering if you are able to keep your tax refunds. The answer to this question is determined by what your specific plan calls for. If your Chapter 13 plan is silent as to tax refunds, presumably you are allowed to retain possession of 100% of your tax refunds. However, if your plan has specific provisions dealing with excess tax refunds, you must comply with them.

When a person files for chapter 7 bankruptcy, they are allowed to claim certain property as “exempt,” or legally protected from creditors up to a certain value. Property that is exempt cannot be taken by the chapter 7 trustee to be used to pay the debtor’s creditors, whereas “nonexempt” property can be taken for that purpose. Minnesota allows debtors to elect either “State exemptions” or “Federal exemptions” to exempt, and protect, their property. The Federal exemptions are those specifically provided in the Federal Bankruptcy Code. State exemptions include any Minnesota State law, or applicable Federal law, not provided for in the Bankruptcy Code. Deciding whether to use State or Federal exemptions is complicated and better elaborated upon in other blogs. However, it is imperative that the debtor select the correct exemptions to use, as it often drastically impacts how much property they will be able to exempt. This is why it is also a good idea to discuss one’s potential bankruptcy case with an experienced bankruptcy attorney before filing one’s bankruptcy case.

LifeBack Law is your neighbor! LifeBack Law is Eagan’s favorite bankruptcy law firm and we are located near you in Eagan, Minnesota at 4480 Erin Drive, Eagan, MN 55122. If you are looking for Minnesota’s HIGHEST GOOGLE reviewed bankruptcy law firm, look no further than LifeBack Law Firm right near where you live. When Eagan, MN residents are suffering from overwhelming debt, they want a law firm whose staff pampers them and takes care of them, not a law firm whose staff is self-centered and could care less about you.

Are you an estate planning lawyer in Minnesota? I am not. I am the managing partner at LifeBack Law Firm, Minnesota’s largest bankruptcy law firm. And I am writing this article to highlight some issues we bankruptcy lawyers see often; including pitfalls and how to avoid them. When you meet with your estate planning clients, I suspect the subject of bankruptcy does not come up often. In other words, how is what you are doing with the client, in terms of estate planning, impacting a non-client heir who needs to file bankruptcy? 

Life is so humbling. Your best plans can go awry, quickly. I mean, who among us hopes when you get married, your marriage will be a failure? Who among us wishes for our business venture to turn into a disaster? Who among us hopes for an extended illness that costs tens of thousands of dollars and leaves us off work without pay? Nobody does this. We humans make elaborate plans and dream big dreams, and we should. However, life does not always play out the way you had planned it. I have accepted this broken road.

Receiving a Summons and Complaint from a creditor, or being threatened with a judgment can be scary, but what does it really mean for you financially? This is a question that a lot of potential clients have when we first meet. Please read on to find out more!

One of the most common questions we field this time of year is whether personal income tax debt is dischargeable. So many people are under the impression that tax debt can never be discharged in a bankruptcy, but that is not always the case! As with many things in life, and bankruptcy, the answer is not a simple yes or no. Read more to find out if your tax debt might be discharged in a bankruptcy.

During tax season many of our clients and potential clients are asking that very question. Unfortunately, it is not always a black and white answer. Read more to find out if your refund would be protected.

     If you are looking for an affordable bankruptcy attorney near you in Eden Prairie, MN, look no further than LifeBack Law Firm. For what you get at LifeBack Law Firm, we are the cheapest bankruptcy attorneys in Minnesota. A lot of people will just want the price without asking what you get. If you want the cheapest bankruptcy attorney in Minnesota I can give you the phone number to who I believe is the cheapest bankruptcy attorney in Minnesota, but you won’t like my referral. For one, he files hardly no bankruptcy cases even though he touts being the cheapest bankruptcy attorney in Minnesota. The fact he boasts being the cheapest should tell you something about his practice and what you will get. I recall one person meeting with this lawyer in his “conference” room that had a picnic table in it. 

Many people depend on social security payments to be able to afford their basic needed living expenses. The Social Security Act of 1935, while originally intended to serve a financial safety net for those who needed temporary economic assistance, has become generally accepted as something that most seniors will depend upon after they retire.  This recognized dependence upon social security benefits by so many of our seniors is the reason why such benefits are given special protection under the law. 

    LifeBack Law Firm has been helping Eden Prairie, MN residents get their lives back since 1972, and we can help you too. LifeBack Law Firm is a Chapter 7 Bankruptcy attorney near me in Eden Prairie, MN. We have an office location right near you. We are located at 7525 Mitchell Road, Suite 208, Eden Prairie, MN 55344. When you are down and out and you are suffering from a debt problem, let the kind and helpful people at LifeBack Law Firm help you get rid of debt and help repair your credit using LifeBack Law Firm FREE 90-Day Credit Repair Program. 

Spouses are allowed to jointly file a single bankruptcy case together. This is often advantageous to both spouses when they both have a significant amount of debt, as they do not have to incur the additional time and expense of filing separate cases. However, it is not uncommon for only one spouse to file for bankruptcy, while the other does not. But what is the impact of the bankruptcy upon the spouse who is filing for bankruptcy, and upon the spouse who decides not to file?

Both the Bankruptcy Code and Minnesota State law prohibit certain types of transfers of money or property made by the debtor prior to the filing of their bankruptcy case. These prohibited transfers are “avoidable” by the bankruptcy trustee. This means that the Chapter 7 trustee can avoid or undo the transfer by demanding the return of the transferred property from the person or entity to whom the transfer was made, and the trustee can even bring a lawsuit against that person to enforce their legal right to the return of the property.

Many people frequently make regular donations to charities and religious organizations. Our laws generally promote and encourage these types of donations due to the positive impact it has on our social institutions and other members of society. For example, the IRS Tax Code allows for certain tax breaks for people and companies who make charitable donations.

    From the very first day a debtor files their bankruptcy case, they receive protection from the “automatic stay,” which is a court order that prevents most creditors from taking any debt collection efforts against the debtor. This protection lasts through the debtor’s bankruptcy case, unless a creditor receives court permission to “lift the automatic stay” and pursue the debt. This is typically only allowed in special circumstances such as where the debtor is using, or possessing, valuable property used to secure a debt owed to the creditor for which the debtor is not fairly compensating the creditor, to the detriment of the creditor’s rights (i.e. driving a car around with a loan against it and not making payments).  

I constantly tell people who live in Eden Prairie, Minnesota, that the first step to filing bankruptcy is wrapping your head around the word, bankruptcy. Yes, there are better words in the English dictionary than the word, bankruptcy. But, once you actually wrap your head around the word bankruptcy and the thought of filing bankruptcy, do know the actual process of filing bankruptcy and getting your life back is easier.