You may hear your attorney throw out quite a few terms in your bankruptcy case. What do they all mean?

In Legal Lingo in Bankruptcy, we discussed common terms you may hear in a bankruptcy. 

Be careful of any out of state companies who are trying to solicit you into filing bankruptcy through them, sort of. I say through them sort of because they really don’t handle your bankruptcy case. Instead, some of these companies or purported law firms refer your case back to a Minnesota licensed attorney. How the fees you pay are split between the out of state company and this Minnesota based lawyer is not clear. What is clear is that there is a fee split between the two entities. You don’t need an out of state company to refer you to a qualified Minnesota bankruptcy lawyer. In fact, some of these lawyers are definitely not the most qualified bankruptcy lawyers in Minnesota. 

In Minnesota, our clients want their lives back. They want the suffering from overwhelming debt to end and they want a new beginning. In my opinion, you don’t have your life back until 1) your debt is gone in bankruptcy and 2) your credit is repaired using Kain & Scott’s FREE 90 day credit repair program. Now, we can eliminate your debt in either a Chapter 7 or Chapter 13 Bankruptcy. Both bankruptcies have their pros and cons. Every person’s case is different and no two cases are the same. Sometimes people profile like one or the other except for that one fact that makes them the opposite case you would think. For example, suppose a person profiles like a Chapter 7 Bankruptcy except they are 5k behind on the house loan and they desperately want to keep the house? With that additional fact, they might be best suited to a Chapter 13 Bankruptcy where we can cure mortgage arrears over time and keep their home.  

Section 525 of the Bankruptcy Code does stipulate protections against discriminatory treatment for bankruptcy filers. The code provides that a, “governmental unit may not deny, revoke, suspend, or refuse to renew a license, permit, charter, franchise deny employment to, terminate employment of…” a bankruptcy debtor. 11 U.S.C. § 525. Additionally, no private employer may terminate employment or discriminate against a debtor solely because the debtor filed bankruptcy.

Creditors file a motion for relief, when they want relief from the automatic stay. Typically this is done if the creditor wants to take collection steps against the bankruptcy filer. For example, this could be proceeding with foreclosure, repossession, or other forms of collection.  

One of the biggest concerns when our clients file a bankruptcy is regarding what will happen to their home. The amount of equity a client has in their home, determines how we will proceed with protecting their assets using the bankruptcy code. If a single debtor has more than $25,000 of equity in their home, we will use Minnesota exemptions to protect it. Minnesota exemptions can protect upwards of $400,000 of equity in a home—and that exemption is referred to as the homestead exemption. With the protection in place, our clients need to be aware of exempt assets and non-exempt assets. What does that mean? Assets refer to the items you own, exempt means they are afforded protection and non-exempt means they do not fit under a protected category according to Minnesota bankruptcy law.

A mortgage and the intervening terminology involved can be difficult to understand. We wanted to highlight a few terms that tend to pop up when people are considering bankruptcy or are already in an active bankruptcy. Learn all you can about your mortgage lender and develop a mutual relationship so that if unforeseen circumstances do arise, they will graciously assist you.

What is a bankruptcy estate?

Law firms send bankruptcy solicitations when they identify individuals facing financial distress, often through public records like foreclosure notices or lawsuits. These solicitations aim to inform you of your legal options, including bankruptcy, which could offer debt relief or protection from creditors.

Filing bankruptcy in Minnesota has never been easier or smooth for a prospective bankruptcy client. During COVID 19, the bankruptcy courts and United States Department of Justice have relaxed a lot of guidelines as to the bankruptcy process. For example, you used to be required to attend what we refer to as a 341 meeting or a first meeting of creditors after you filed bankruptcy. Now, this meeting is conducted either telephonically or by zoom. 

Creditors and collection agencies can be a mixed bag. You never know if you will receive someone understanding and nice or someone who is less than understanding about your situation. 

When a bankruptcy case is filed, you state that you have listed all of your assets and creditors in the case. 

 Choosing the right Minnesota bankruptcy law firm is critical. All you have to do is read the Google reviews from different bankruptcy law firms to know there is a huge difference in the firm you choose. I feel bad for people who choose the wrong bankruptcy law firm. I think sometimes we feel like all professionals are the same, right? Trust me when I tell you that is far from the truth.

In Minnesota if you are in default (i.e. are not making your monthly payments) on your car loan, then the bank can take possession of your car even if they don’t have a court order to do so – as long as they don’t “breach the peace”. Minn. Stat. Section 336.9-609. Once the creditor has possession of your vehicle, the creditor can move forward with the sale of the vehicle. 

 For those of us with high anxiety having someone laugh at you can be devastating. Of Course, as you get older, those sort of things become less irritating to you. In fact, as you get older you become perfectly fine with someone laughing at you or you laughing at yourself. But, can filing bankruptcy be a laughing matter? Of course it can be. I tell my children all of the time, if you are going to get pissed off at everything that goes wrong in your life you will be pissed off a lot.