In the event of a pending foreclosure, bankruptcy can be a practical tool. The bankruptcy can stay the impending foreclosure process, but the bankruptcy filing is not the end of the process for the debtor. The bankruptcy debtor will also be tasked with specific responsibilities. 

When you file bankruptcy you must list everything you own or are entitled to. When you file, you create a bankruptcy estate. The estate owns everything you own or are entitled to until the exemption objection period passes or you buy back non-exempt assets from the estate. 

While there is no such thing as medical bankruptcy cases, you can still discharge medical debt in bankruptcy. In fact, medical debt is fairly easy to include in bankruptcy, as long as you know where your medical debt was incurred. For example, the hospital or clinic you went to. 

Ongoing domestic support obligations are unchanged in a bankruptcy filing. The bankruptcy court has no authority to reduce the obligation or deny the obligation. And in a chapter 13 bankruptcy, the debtor must be current on their support obligation at the time of the discharge. 

     The perception among many is filing Chapter 7 Bankruptcy is the death knell to your ability to obtain future credit. In a way, I can understand this perception. For example, many of our clients report the following version of events to us: we are current on all our payments and our credit score is quite good.

     A court filing in Hennepin County, MN on September 26, 2023 (court file no. 27-CV-23-12137), claims from 2013 to 2020, Hoglund, Chwialkowski & Mrozik P.L.L.C. n/k/a Hoglund & Mrozik, P.L.L.C. engaged in massive interstate advertising and marketing fraud spanning multiple states on its website, Google map location and lawyer listings, and by its conventional advertisements. 

When filing for bankruptcy and owning a home, it is important for a debtor to understand they will still have an obligation to the mortgage lender. With Chapter 7 bankruptcies the obligation is fairly obvious, the debtor will continue to make the normal monthly mortgage payment to the lender, but in a Chapter 13 bankruptcy, the debtor’s obligation may be less obvious.
If you are in a Chapter 13 bankruptcy, the expectation is the debtor will remain current on any mortgages they have on the home. According to the bankruptcy code, specifically Federal Bankruptcy Rule 3002.1, debtors must be timely notified of any fee adjustments, and failure to comply can result in penalties. If the debtor does not remain current on the mortgage payment the mortgage lender can motion the court to lift the stay so the lender can proceed with collections measures, which usually means initiating a foreclosure proceedings..

A 341 hearing is typically the only hearing you attend in your bankruptcy case. It is about a month after filing and will take about 5-10 minutes, depending on your case. The trustee of your case conducts the hearing and will go through yes or no questions with you to verify your case information. 

    Thanks to the attorneys at LifeBack Law Firm, computers are now exempt as household items under Minnesota bankruptcy exemptions for the first time in history. The world has changed a lot in the last 30 years. Computers have become a necessary household appliance to conduct all kinds of business. Many of us conduct our finances online, make medical appointments online, access our medical records online and do many other household functions.

When you file bankruptcy you have to list all of your creditors, both secured and unsecured. This is true, even if you plan on keeping your secured assets, like houses and vehicles, and will continue paying them. 

     The consensus is filing a Chapter 7 Bankruptcy is better than filing a Chapter 13 Bankruptcy. Why? I know this is ironic but Chapter 7 Bankruptcy looks better for your credit profile than Chapter 13 bankruptcy. Why? Because in Chapter 7 Bankruptcy, you get a discharge in 4 months whereas in Chapter 13 Bankruptcy you are in a repayment plan for 3-5 years before you get a discharge. This is why most of our clients prefer to file Chapter 7 Bankruptcy versus Chapter 13.

Your bankruptcy discharge is the official court order, stating you do not have personal liability on the dischargeable debts anymore. The bankruptcy discharge is the end goal of bankruptcy. Since the discharge is the end goal in most cases, a lot of potential clients wonder what would cause a discharge to not go through.

The 341 hearing or Meeting of Creditors is, typically, the only hearing you attend during your bankruptcy case. It is about a month after filing and will, usually, last less than 10 minutes. This meeting is a chance for the trustee in your case and any creditors to ask questions. The questions you will be asked typically are regarding assets, income, debts, and expenses. 

    LifeBack Law Firm protects Minnesotans from law firm marketing fraud. How do we do this? When a law firm insists on pretending to be in locations they are not, LifeBack Law Firm calls them out on it. We once discovered a law firm in Minnesota who possessed no less than 237 Google Map Listings. The owner of the firm thought he was a marketing genius. We did not. We do not find it funny at all when prospective clients are deceived about a law firm’s actual location.

When you file bankruptcy, you are placed in a metaphorical bubble of protection from your creditors. This bubble is called the automatic stay. The automatic stay protects you from collection activity during the bankruptcy, until you receive your bankruptcy discharge, which is the court order saying you do not have personal liability on your debt anymore. What the automatic stay means for you, is bankruptcy can stop creditor collection harassment, collection lawsuits from moving forward, collection calls, and statements from coming. 

    Section 523(a)(8) of the Bankruptcy Code makes student loan debt non-dischargeable unless debtor sues the student loan company and convinces a bankruptcy judge that repayment of the student loan debt would cause debtor an undue hardship. If ever there were more loaded words than “undue hardship”, I am not sure what they would be.