Does the court monitor or dictate your expenses in bankruptcy?
People often wonder if the bankruptcy court will tell them how to spend money, or prohibit or limit any expenses. The short answer is, no. It is true that the bankruptcy court looks into whether the person has the financial means to make any payments to creditors, and requires information …
What can you do about wage garnishment?
With a judgment in hand, a creditor can garnish the person’s wages. Typically, a creditor can take 25% of net earnings from each pay check until the entire debt – plus collection fees – is paid off. What can you do if you received an earnings withholding order, or, worse …
You versus the Joneses: does other families’ income matter if you are filing bankruptcy?
This may come as a surprise, but other families’ income does make a difference in your bankruptcy case. Here is why: in the Means Test in your bankruptcy filing, the court compares current median incomes with your gross income to assess your financial well-being and ability to pay creditors. Of …
Are your Social Security benefits protected or endangered by filing bankruptcy?
The answer is: “Usually, neither.” In most cases, there is no effect on Social Security benefits and once in a while bankruptcy actually helps to protect the benefits that are due to you. As a starting point, by law, a person’s Social Security benefits cannot be assigned to any other …
Are your retirement funds in danger if you file bankruptcy?
Generally, no. Most retirement accounts are not considered to be part of the bankruptcy estate, and are out of the creditors’ reach. This includes traditional 401(ks), IRAs, government retirement accounts such as CalSTRS and more. If you are expecting a pension or are receiving a pension, creditors also usually don’t …
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