Change is healthy (and inevitable) fact of life. It can be welcome or not, it can be wonderful or it can be terrible. The bottom line is that we are all going to experience it in our lives –a lot!

You could not find a single person who will tell you that life is easy. It is not. In fact, sometimes it seems like life is purposefully cruel –dealing blow after blow, hit after hit, and just when you think there might be a moment of relief, life kicks you again when you are down. One of life’s lowest blows is overwhelming debt. Debt creeps into your life and when it finally sinks its fangs in, it is already too late. You are buried alive by it and suffocating –already weakened by the other curveballs that life has lobbed at you. It may seem hopeless. But it is not. 

I love it when I am looking to research a topic and I find the website that is the leading authority on it don’t you? If you need to research what is Chapter 7 and 13 Bankruptcy, what the bankruptcy process is like in Minnesota, and what are the fees, you need to go to www.kainscott.com, Minnesota’s LARGEST Chapter 7 and 13 Bankruptcy website. No cheesy gimmicks just quality information on what is a Chapter 7 and 13 Bankruptcy, what is the process of Chapter 7 and 13 Bankruptcy in Minnesota, and what are the fees.

Have you ever heard of the word “gimmick”? I bet you have. The word means a “trick” intended to attract attention, publicity, or business. Unfortunately, when people suffer from debt, there are companies and law firms that use tricks to betray the public’s trust. How so?

With nine full-time attorneys and five permanent staffed locations and growing, Kain & Scott always wants to ensure that we have our clients at the forefront. No matter how many offices, attorneys, or staff members our firm grows to we want to make sure that our clients always get the same top-notch service that Kain & Scott is known for. 

I’ve written in earlier blogs about the decision-making involved in deciding whether filing a chapter 7 bankruptcy case or a chapter 13 bankruptcy case is the best choice for a particular client.
There are many factors that go into this decision-making. Among the factors is one that I want to look at closely in this blog: debts that may not be discharged in a chapter 7 case can be discharged in a chapter 13 case. The bankruptcy code governs the differences between Chapter 7 and Chapter 13, including how debts are adjusted and discharged.

Since about 2000, college tuition has increased massively in most places. At the same time, banks have remained eager to lend these students lots of money, even as credit requirements elsewhere tightened. As a result, Americans now owe over $1.5 trillion in education debt. If everything goes as planned for recent graduates, paying off student loans is usually not a problem. Many people might have to put off large purchases for a few years, but that’s a price most are willing to pay.

But as we know, everything does not always go according to plan. That’s basically the reason that the United States has such a generous bankruptcy law. In most cases, the debtors simply miscalculated, and they deserve fresh starts.

Over a third of Minnesotans have more than $1,000 which they keep for financial emergencies. Credit card payments and medical bills usually do not qualify as such. So, many Minnesota bankruptcy filers have at least a few hundred extra dollars in the bank. Sometimes, this money is not even an emergency fund. They simply need it to pay bills.

The bad news is that, in a Chapter 7 bankruptcy, the trustee liquidates as many nonexempt assets as possible to pay the debtors’ medical bills, credit cards, and other unsecured debts. The good news is that cash is often an exempt asset in Minnesota. Even if that’s not the case, at Kain & Scott, we know how to use legal loopholes in your favor.

Most banks have very little patience when it comes to missed mortgage payments. In fact, many lenders begin pre-foreclosure proceedings after just two missed payments. So, distressed Minnesota homeowners have very little safety cushion.

For many people, the thought of buying a house after bankruptcy is one of the reasons why they want to avoid filing for relief from their debts. They assume that once they file bankruptcy they will not be able to obtain any type of credit, including a mortgage, because of the bankruptcy.  Unfortunately, this fear keeps some people from filing a bankruptcy case or delays the decision to file bankruptcy until matters are much worse.  The bankruptcy myth that a debtor will never qualify to buy a house after bankruptcy is simply that — a myth.  

Most people see bankruptcy as a last resort. Typically, that strategy is a sound one. It’s usually best to try to work things out with moneylenders before choosing a more radical path.

This question presses upon the thousands of people who either serve at one of the National Guard bases in Minnesota or work for a firm which supports these men and women. In many cases, if a person loses a security clearance, the person also loses that job. Such a situation clearly makes the family’s financial situation worse instead of better.

Each year, the federal government collects over $3 trillion in individual income taxes. Some people may think that’s because taxes are so high. That probably has something to do with it. The country’s high voluntary compliance rate (82 percent) may have even more to do with it.

But it’s not all good news. A lot of money, some $320 billion according to the IRS, goes uncollected. The Service states that the main problems are underreported income, underpayment of taxes, and nonfiling. The IRS has a lot of resources with which to collect this money. Even in the downsized IRS, there are agents and accountants whose sole job responsibility is collecting that unpaid tax. These individuals have a lot of tools at their disposal. In most cases, the IRS does not need a court order to garnish wages, file property liens, or even garnish bank accounts.

In many cases, a mortgage lender begins home foreclosure proceedings after just two missed payments. Sometimes the Minnesota lender is a little more patient, but that’s certainly not true in all cases.

Pre-foreclosure basically starts a financial landslide. The moneylender usually sends an acceleration notice very early in the process. Once the lender issues that notice, the bank no longer accepts partial payments. So, the homeowner goes further and further into delinquency with each passing week.