Sports fans have been anxiously waiting and the time is almost here: March Madness. As you gear up for a series of exciting games and limitless chicken wings, there’s one preparation that any dedicated basketball fan takes very seriously: picking a winning bracket.

If you’re one of the thousands of Minnesota residents who is considering filing for either Chapter 7 or Chapter 13 bankruptcy, follow these simple tips to help you get the most out of your Minnesota bankruptcy.

For the last three weeks, I’ve written about the function of bankruptcy to serve the twin purposes Congress set out in passing bills that codified bankruptcy law into the Bankruptcy Code: treating creditors fairly and allowing debtors to live with dignity.  I’ve written about why the bankruptcy debtor has to list assets and liabilities accurately in her schedules, about the specific features of chapter 13, the benefits of the automatic stay in bankruptcy and the requirement that the bankruptcy debtor list all of her creditors in her bankruptcy paperwork.  This week, I’ll continue to look at how bankruptcy law and procedure seeks to meet the policy goals of Congress.

If you live in Minnesota and you are contemplating filing a Chapter 7 or Chapter 13 Bankruptcy, you might feel nervous about doing so. After all, you don’t file bankruptcy every day. You will have a lot of questions about doing so. You may feel nervous about filing bankruptcy.

You may have heard or seen advertisements claiming that this firm or that firm offers low-cost bankruptcy filing. But do you know what that advertised “low price” will actually cost you?

Typically, if someone else pays a person’s debts, the IRS considers such payments to be taxable income. Prominent exceptions include certain student loan repayments and gift repayments. Based on that analysis, many people think the answer to this question is a resounding “yes.” But it is actually a surprising “no,” because bankruptcy discharge is different from debt repayment.

Last week, I wrote about the nuts and bolts of bankruptcy - how bankruptcy “works.” In doing so, I concentrated on the paperwork any bankruptcy debtor has to file with the court: the bankruptcy petition, schedules and statements.  And I wrote about those documents through the lens of the two goals of bankruptcy: to treat a debtor’s creditors fairly, and to allow the debtor to live with dignity.  This week, I want to take a deeper look at how bankruptcy law attempts to satisfy those two goals.

What happens when the unexpected happens? You are going along and unexpectedly (or perhaps it is expected), your parent passes away without a will, leaving their home to you as the beneficiary. You are now trying to juggle the mortgage payment on your parent’s home in an effort to keep the home in the family, in addition to another mortgage and your own debt. Pretty soon you realize that your parents were behind on their mortgage payments when they passed away and you get that dreaded foreclosure notice. You were barely making ends meet before and now you need to come up with additional money to save the house.

Medical bills are the worst kind of debt there is. They are impossible to predict and certainly not preventable. I have a relative who is a young woman who has brain cancer. Do you have any idea how huge the medical bills are for something like this? That is not to mention the amount of other debt incurred along with medical bills.

So, you live in or around Monticello, Minnesota and you know you need to file bankruptcy but you are not sure which bankruptcy you need to file. There are some simple questions to ask to figure out which bankruptcy makes sense for you.

Why do Minnesotans choose Kain & Scott to file bankruptcy? Simple. Kain & Scott has the best customer service experience than any other bankruptcy law firm in Minnesota. But, don’t take my word for it, read what our former and current guests say about us online with google reviews. Kain & Scott is Minnesota’s highest Google reviewed bankruptcy law firm- period.

It’s a simple question isn’t it? I mean how do you really know if you should stop paying your bills and push the reset button? You will hear so many financial “gurus” tell you to try and avoid bankruptcy. I think these people are nuts. In fact, I would tell to you to err on the side of filing Chapter 7 Bankruptcy and getting your life back. Why? Simple. Life is short. Do you want to be bogged down in debt for eternity with crappy credit anyway or do you want to live for the future, know you can pay your bills on time, and seek a new life?

There is nothing worse than medical debt. Why? Because it is so unpredictable and uncontrollable. It’s one thing to have to go through a surgery or awful illness but it is even worse when you sit back, hopefully healthy again, and receive all of the medical bills from the illness or surgery.

One of the common concerns that our Minnesota guests have is will my bankruptcy be published in the St Cloud, MN newspaper? I get this. When you are knee deep in debt you feel like a loser- you don’t want anyone else knowing what you are going through lest they judge you, right?

Did 2017 wreak havoc on your finances? 2018 is almost here; while you’re stocking up on champagne, decorations, and party hats to ring in the new year, you probably can’t believe that 2017 has come and gone so quickly. As you sit down to write out your resolutions for 2018, have you thought about what you can do in the New Year to finally get rid of your debt for good?

Has Mother Nature caught you off guard with unprecedented winter storms?

No matter how prepared you think you are for winter, chances are when an unexpected snowstorm hits, you find that there was something you forgot: extra batteries, driveway salt, or the ever-important loaf of bread and gallon of milk may make the difference between enjoying the winter wonderland outside or cursing the swirling white fury outside your window.