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.

Bankruptcy is full of nuances and terms you may not hear every day. This blog will explore common phrases you may hear during your case and what they mean or are referring to. 

Divorce and a bankruptcy tend to go hand and hand. Often the question comes up, what should come first, the bankruptcy or the divorce. Depending on the facts of your specific case one should consider the consequences how a divorce may impact a bankruptcy filing. 

    We get this phone call often. The person on the other end of the call is a former client of LifeBack Law Firm. The client has a vehicle loan for 10k and the vehicle is now a pile of junk. Yes, it is unusual for a bank not to want their collateral back, unless the collateral is junk.

When you file bankruptcy, the debt you have incurred prior to filing, can be included in your bankruptcy case. After filing, any new debt you incur is your responsibility and is not subject to the automatic stay of bankruptcy or the bankruptcy discharge. 

     If you are thinking about filing a Chapter 7 Bankruptcy in Minneapolis, MN, you need to watch out for these two things before choosing a bankruptcy law firm that is right for you.

When you first speak to an attorney about filing bankruptcy and throughout your case, you may hear certain terms or phrases used frequently. This blog will explore some of the more common words and what they mean. 

Court filing saysHoglund Law engaged in massive interstate advertising and marketing fraud spanning multiple states

Appearing on your behalf may sound appealing to some due to not paying attorney fees, but the advantages to having an attorney represent you during your bankruptcy greatly outweigh the cost associated with filing. 

    I often refer to a Chapter 13 Bankruptcy as a government-sponsored debt consolidation plan with unique twists. For example, in Chapter 13 Bankruptcy, the plan duration is limited to 3-5 years. We cannot go shorter than 3 years and we cannot go longer than 5 years.

You may hear a creditor of yours is secured or has a security interest and wonder what this means. Creditors with security interests are those who have a lien on assets. This means, that if the secured amount of debt is not paid, the lender can take back the asset, so they can recoup the amount of debt that is owed.