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.

As incredible as this may sound, there is a bankruptcy law firm that will actually ask you to put up your clothing as collateral for the attorney fees in a bankruptcy case.

LifeBack Law will never ask any of it’s’ clients to put up the clothing on their back as collateral for our fees. At LifeBack Law Firm, we accept payment in one of three ways for a Chapter 7 Bankruptcy.

Filing a chapter 7 or chapter 13 bankruptcy can be a scary process, but in the right hands of a proper attorney, it doesn’t have to be. Let’s say you file and now you want to know what happens after you’ve filed.

First, the automatic stay is applied when your case is filed. This stay prevents your creditors from pursuing any further collection activity, including lawsuits or garnishments.

I constantly remind Minnesotans, your finances are sick, you are not. If you need a metaphor to think about this, here is one; actors and actresses many times need to be told, you are not the same person as the actor or actress.

You are two different people. So when people criticize the actor/actress, they are not criticizing you, they are criticizing someone else. Same thing with debt. You are not your debt. You are you and your finances are separate and if your finances are sick we need to give medicine to your finances (bankruptcy) not you.

A common concern for many people filing for Chapter 7 or Chapter 13 bankruptcy is whether their retirement account will be protected. Bankruptcy law is very generous about protecting debtors’ retirement accounts such as IRAs, 401ks, and pensions. The vast majority of these retirement plans are “exempt,” or fully protected, under law.

Once your bankruptcy case is filed, it is required that you give testimony at what is called a “341 Meeting.” It is called 341 meeting, because it is required by law at 11 U.S.C. § 341.

The 341 meeting is intended to be a time where any interested parties may appear and ask you questions about your bankruptcy petition and intentions. The meeting is ran by a Trustee, and while creditors are all given notice of the hearing time, it is VERY rare that they show up at the 341 meeting.

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.

A creditor who sues a person and gets a court judgement against them can collect the money that the person owes the creditor through a garnishment of the person’s wages. To do so, the creditor can serve a summons on the person’s employer directing them to withhold their wages to be paid to the creditor.

During your Minnesota bankruptcy case there are going to be moving parts. There will be at least one hearing you have to attend (typically only one), your date for discharge, and other details of which you should be aware.

Since mid-2020, an eviction moratorium has been in place to assist renters due to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic. This has been a great lifesaver for renters, but the moratorium won’t last forever and your obligation to pay rent will continue when the moratorium ends.

Have you heard the phrase “bankruptcy protection” and wondered how a bankruptcy could protect you? Most potential bankruptcy clients usually have a sense of what filing a bankruptcy means, but are often unsure of how the process actually works. One common question that potential clients have is "How does filing a bankruptcy protect me?"

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.

Imagine having job security, being able to pay your bills, and life being just fine. Then, you lose your job and you can’t keep up with your bills and all of the sudden you’re sued for not paying your credit card or a creditor bringing you to court for breaching your contract to them. This happens all the time.

A common concern for people considering filing for bankruptcy is whether they will be restricted from buying or selling property, or taking out more debt, during their bankruptcy case. Whether these types of transactions are permitted partially depends on whether they file a chapter 13 or chapter 7 bankruptcy case.

Say you have a vehicle, that for whatever reason, you do not want to keep anymore. Maybe it needs significant repair, maybe you can’t afford it anymore, or maybe you just do not want it. Whatever the reason, you may be wondering whether you can get rid of the vehicle and its loan in bankruptcy? The answer is yes.