Monthly Archives: April 2025
A Quick Guide to Bankruptcy and Government Benefits
This guide will be quick because, in most cases, government benefits are 100 percent exempt in Illinois bankruptcies. Furthermore, the Automatic Stay also extends to government benefits. The trustee (person who oversees a bankruptcy for a judge) cannot seize an exempt asset, like government benefits or a retirement account, and liquidate it to pay… Read More »
What Will Disqualify You from a Security Clearance?
Contrary to popular myth, filing bankruptcy doesn’t disqualify you from a security clearance. Such bankruptcy filing discrimination is illegal under federal law. In fact, the opposite is usually true. Although the underlying debt problems that force most people to file bankruptcy could disqualify you from a security clearance, filing bankruptcy often convinces authorities that… Read More »
Do I Lose My Car if I File for Bankruptcy?
No, in most cases. The Bankruptcy Code, which gives honest yet unfortunate debtors a fresh start, recognizes that people need cars to work, go to school, run essential errands, and otherwise live from day to day. Illinois’ bankruptcy exemptions recognize this fact as well. So, in most cases, you don’t lose your car if… Read More »
Are Student Loans Being Forgiven in Bankruptcies?
Yes, student loans are being forgiven in bankruptcies, partially because, in 2024, former President Joe Biden undid a mistake he made some twenty years earlier. In 2005, then-Senator Biden led the charge to end some of the last bankruptcy protections for student loan debtors, primarily those who had private student loan debt related to… Read More »