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.

     At LifeBack Law Firm, we constantly honor the courage it takes for thousands of Minnesotans to reach out every year and ask for help with overwhelming debt. We honor that courage by having the most kind and helpful staff in Minnesota. Does this make a difference? You bet it does. If I am embarrassed about something I want a professional who is the most kind and helpful person ever. I mean it. I want my hand held the whole time.

     If you find yourself living in or near St. Cloud, MN there is only one bankruptcy law firm I would recommend, and that is LifeBack Law Firm. LifeBack Law Firm is not like other law firms. At LifeBack Law Firm we hire, reward, and discipline our employees based on how well they treat co-workers and clients. Is this unique for a law firm? Trust me when I tell you that most law firm cultures are pure snake pits where the focus is on money and not people. At LifeBack Law Firm, we don’t grade our employees or attorneys on how much revenue they bring in but on how well they treat their co-workers and clients.

     Northern Minnesota is a summer and winter paradise. Movie stars and locals flock to Northern, Minnesota each summer to enjoy Northern, Minnesota’s pristine beauty. Lake, rivers, and forests become playgrounds for locals and out of towners alike.

Can you even begin to imagine the courage Dr. King had? I cannot. I only wish I had a sliver of the courage Dr. King had to stand and speak the truth in the face of pure hate and division. Dr. King said any society that has hate and division is a sick society. How prophetic are Dr. King’s words today in the face of unspeakable hate and division? And yet, in the face of adversity, there are signs of brotherly love. We have witnessed forgiveness for unspeakable acts of hate and racism by the victims of racism and hate.

Many people who file bankruptcy rely upon the support of regular child support or alimony payments to meet their basic needs, and many are owed large amounts of past due child support or alimony from the other parent. Bankruptcy law generally protects a debtor’s right to receive these domestic support benefits but this right is not absolute. When a debtor in Minnesota files bankruptcy, they may choose to use either “Federal exemptions” (those provided in the Federal Bankruptcy Code) or “State exemptions” (those provided for under the Minnesota Statutes and other applicable Federal law) to “exempt,” or legally protect their property from being taken to pay creditors. This is important because debtors in a chapter 7 bankruptcy case may have to surrender money or property that is not exempt to the trustee to pay their creditors. It is also important in a chapter 13 case, as the more property that is not exempt, the higher their monthly payment, because they are required to pay to their unsecured creditors, at minimum, the value of the nonexempt property.

Many people are entitled receive tax refunds each year for overpayments to the IRS and Minnesota State Department of Revenue from taxes withheld from their paychecks. Sometimes, these refunds can be quite substantial. A debtor’s right to receive a future tax refund is considered property of the “bankruptcy estate.” In a chapter 7 bankruptcy case, property of the bankruptcy estate is all of the debtor’s money and property that is subject to being taken by the bankruptcy trustee to pay the debtor’s creditors. In many cases, most, if not all, the debtor’s money and property is “exempt,” or legally protected from being taken to pay their creditors.

In a legal “Trust,” money, or other property, that is owned by a “Beneficiary,” is controlled by a “Trustee” (not to be confused with a bankruptcy trustee), whose responsibility it is to distribute the property to the Beneficiary in accordance with the terms of a written “Trust Agreement.” The person who creates the legal trust, via the Trust Agreement, is called the “Settlor,” and there can be multiple Settlors, Trustees, and Beneficiaries.