Are you contemplating filing a Chapter 7 Bankruptcy in Minneapolis? If so, then you want to know how much it costs. Let’s face it moneys tight and your debt is deep. After all you wouldn’t be even considering it if it wasn’t, right? Here’s a list of fees that you will encounter:

At the end of the last blog, Can i keep my house or car if i file a Roseville MN Bankruptcy, I wrote that even if a client of mine owned a vehicle that he or she liked, with a payment that the client could afford and the car was a new enough model that it was possible that the lender would repossess the car unless the client signed a reaffirmation agreement, I would still advise the client not to do so. Why? In my analysis, it all comes down to worst-case scenarios. By definition, with my bankruptcy practice I am not dealing with lucky people. My clients are my clients because things have not worked out as planned for them financially, or some sudden unanticipated event has taken place to create financial strain. My clients at our Bankruptcy Law Firm in Roseville are used to having worst-case scenarios come true.

Imagine a world in which creditors could collect from debtors at will and without rules. It would be chaos, literally. Hypothetically speaking, if I know Pete owes me 10k and I know that Pete’s business is teetering on the brink of financial ruin, and there are no rules, what am I going to do? I tell you what I am going to do. I am going to secretly find out what assets Pete owns and then I am going to quickly assert control over those assets so I can get paid my 10k plus costs. I want to do this before any of Pete’s other creditors get wind of Pete’s financial condition and take his assets- before I can get paid. 

Oh the humility of being alive. Some of us go through life and never receive a DWI. Some of us should have received a 100 DWI’s and never receive one. Some of us never incur overwhelming debt, and yet, some of us will. Have you ever had a brain tumor? Me neither and yet 1000's of Minnesotans every year have them. Much of the time, life events’ are out of your control- seriously, they are. No one dreams of having a brain tumor or incurring overwhelming debt. This is not a place most of want to be. Yet, each year, over 10,000 good Minnesotans file bankruptcy. Why? The reasons are varied but most bankruptcies fall into one of 5 categories.

Last week, I wrote about how bankruptcy cases interact with home mortgage and car loans in chapter 7 cases. The general rule is simple: as long as individuals in bankruptcy cases make their house and car payments on time, those individuals should be able to “keep” their homes and cars. The reason for this is that the equity in residential real estate and motor vehicles is almost always exempt under either the Bankruptcy Code or the Minnesota state law that deals with debtors and creditors. But while that general rule is true, individuals who are thinking about filing a bankruptcy case need to know that there are issues that these individuals should be aware of as they make a decision - first, whether to file a bankruptcy case and second, if they intend to keep their homes and/or their cars after their bankruptcy case.

If you were recently involved in a car, truck, or motorcycle accident, you might be wondering whether you should file bankruptcy.  That is a complicated question that involves the intersection between two legal practice areas -- auto accident law, and bankruptcy law.  The answer depends on a number of factors.

When you are thinking about filing a bankruptcy, consumers have two choices. To file a chapter 7 bankruptcy or a chapter 13 bankruptcy. There are other types of bankruptcies that you might hear about in the news, such as the bankruptcies Donald Trump has filed. Trump filed bankruptcy on his businesses and not on his personal debt. He filed a chapter 11 bankruptcy, a bankruptcy that is done to deal with business debt. For this, we will stick to discussing chapter 7 and chapter 13 bankruptcy. 

One of the most common questions that potential clients ask their Bankruptcy Attorney when filing is what is the effect that bankruptcy has on continuing home and car ownership. It's understandable that people with debt problems are worried about retaining the place where they live and retaining the car or truck they drive. My typical response is to assure them. As long as you continue to make any loan payments associated with your home and/or your vehicles, you should be able to keep your home and your car. Now this is a good, sound, general statement. And it's true; but to be well informed clients need to know more about theinterplay between ownership of assets and bankruptcy.

At first a lot of people want to try and figure out how to file a bankruptcy themselves. However, after getting started they find that it is a lot more complicated and difficult than they had anticipated. Just like anything: if you don’t know what you’re doing it’s not going to go as smooth as it would with the use of a professional. The bankruptcy petition is extremely long, you need to attend a 341 meeting, possibly negotiate payments with a trustee and take credit counseling courses. Besides, making a mistake could potentially jeopardize your assets and financial future. That is why even though it might sound like a good idea at first, most people decide to hire an experienced Bankruptcy Attorney to help them through the process and ensure the best possible outcome. In the end they realize it’s worth the money and a much better deal than losing assets or paying the debt that an experienced lawyer will know how to get you discharged.

As a society, we value marriage. Culturally speaking, there is probably no more important institution than the institution of marriage. I am also happy to see this institution authorized for all members of society not just certain segments of society. But did you know that the one the single most important symbols of marriage, the wedding ring, could be seized to pay ones debts in Minnesota? Crazy but true.

I wrote in an earlier blog, Death, Taxes & Maple Grove MN Bankruptcy, that under certain circumstances, an individual who has tax liabilities can sometimes have these tax liabilities discharged in a bankruptcy case. I noted, though, that discharge is available only in very specific circumstances: the tax owed must be income tax, the tax liability must be “old” and returns must have been filed in a timely fashion. While some people who have tax problems meet these criteria, most of my clients do not. So the tax problem that they have is not going to disappear simply by filing a bankruptcy case. So what can we do about tax liability that isn’t discharged in a bankruptcy case?

Benjamin Franklin famously wrote “in this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes.” And death and taxes can add layers of complications to debt problems - and create issues for a person who is thinking about filing a bankruptcy case. Let’s take a closer look at the only two certainties in life.

Have you ever heard the expression, “bad things happen to good people?” No where in the law is this more true than in the bankruptcy world. Trust me when I tell you, your clients don’t come to you with overwhelming debt dreaming that would be the position they would find themselves in one day. Nobody grows up thinking some day I would like to find myself divorced, with 3 DWI’s and sure let’s toss in overwhelming debt too.

Roseville MN Bankruptcy and MN Divorce Law find themselves intersecting all the time. It’s almost as if these two areas of law go hand and hand. Debt causes marital strife which leads to divorce. Divorce causes a loss of income to both parties, separate households and therefore separate expenses, and typically debt as a result of the investment in getting the divorce itself; lawyers, custody studies, child support, alimony, and many other expenses associated with getting a divorce. In a lot of cases this all leads to bankruptcy eventually. 

If you’re an individual in Minnesota, then technically you don’t need an attorney to file bankruptcy. The constitution of the United States allows anyone to file bankruptcy on their own. This is also known as a “pro se” filing. However, you have to file several forms and schedules with the bankruptcy court so if you choose this route, you need to be very, very careful. The consequences of filing improperly are severe. You could be taking a chance at losing your car, your house or your retirement account. You have to know what you’re doing and that’s why hiring your Maple Grove Bankruptcy Attorneys at Kain & Scott is desirable.

Do i really need my Maple Grove MN Bankruptcy Attorneys? As someone who used to work with low income clients at a non-profit, I came across this question a lot. With the rise of "do it yourself legal”, online more and more people think about this question when they are looking to get divorced, write a will and even file bankruptcy. When someone chooses to go forward without hiring an attorney, they are called “pro se.” However, bankruptcy is different from other areas of law in a lot of respects, it has its own court system and its own set of laws. This makes even attorneys that practice in other areas of law leery of stepping foot into bankruptcy court.