Bankruptcy is a highly effective debt relief option available to individual consumers and businesses alike. It’s a system that is designed to protect the economy on varying scales from the oversaturation of debtors unable to continue making regular payments. It’s also designed to protect debtors from destitution while maintaining fair treatment for any creditors involved. If you are considering choosing bankruptcy as a long-term debt relief option, it’s important to understand how difficult it could be to file without professional experience, knowledge, and guidance. With the help of Behm Law Group Ltd, you can work through the nuances and complexities of filing for bankruptcy in Fairmont, MN, and build a strong, successful case.
While bankruptcy is an efficient tool for debt relief, it doesn’t necessarily wipe out all debts. Unsecured debts like credit card debt or medical bills are almost always discharged, but other debts like some taxes or priority obligations like child support are largely exempt from discharge in bankruptcy. Like those debts, not all legal debts like lawsuit judgments, fines, or other debts are always discharged in a bankruptcy.
Embezzlement judgments, for example, may or may not be discharged in your bankruptcy. If you have committed embezzlement fraud and have gone through the legal processing of that crime, you will most likely have a criminal fine or restitution on your record. Criminal fines or restitution fall into the category of priority (non-dischargeable) debt and they will not be discharged in your bankruptcy. However, you may be able to have that debt discharged if it is only classified as a civil judgement.
Civil judgments are claims against you that fall into the category of debts owed for “fraud or defalcation while acting in a fiduciary capacity, embezzlement, or larceny.” If your debt for embezzlement is a civil judgment rather than a criminal fine or restitution, the creditor you owe that debt to must request that the court declare it non-dischargeable. To do this, they must take action early on in your case, specifically, within 60 days of the date set for the 341 meeting of creditors.
To request this, a creditor will have to file an adversary proceeding (i.e., lawsuit) with the court. In this proceeding, the creditor must prove that your embezzlement actions were fraudulent, that you were not authorized by the company or by the law to take the money or property, and that the property taken was held in trust for another party (i.e., the company or person embezzled from). If a creditor files a successful adversary proceeding, your civil judgment debt will not be discharged in bankruptcy.
If you are considering filing for bankruptcy in Fairmont, MN, and want to learn more about how different debts will be affected, contact Behm Law Group Ltd. at (507) 387-7200 or via email at stephen@mankatobankruptcy.com today.
