Meade County sits at the Fort Knox gate. Around 30,003 people live here, and a large share of them serve, have served, or are married to someone who does.
Military families face questions that most pages never answer. Nick Thompson is a Brandenburg bankruptcy attorney who takes those cases. He files them as a Louisville bankruptcy and foreclosure attorney. The first consultation is free.
Call 502-625-0905 for a free consultation.
Service members may skip the means test
Most people have to pass the Chapter 7 means test to file. Two military rules can remove that step entirely.
The first covers disabled veterans. You may qualify if your disability rating is at least 30 percent, or if you were discharged or released because of a line-of-duty disability. Your debt also has to have been incurred mainly during active duty or homeland defense work.
The second covers Reservists and National Guard members. If you were called to active duty after September 11, 2001 for at least 90 days, the means test does not apply while you serve. It stays off for 540 days after your service ends.
Both rules come from Section 707(b)(2)(D) of the Bankruptcy Code. Both are claimed on Official Form 122A-1Supp. Neither is automatic, and the 540-day window closes.
Bring your DD-214 or your orders to the first meeting.
Bankruptcy and your security clearance
This is the question we hear most often in Meade County. People assume filing ends a clearance. It does not work that way.
Form SF-86 asks about bankruptcy, so a filing does get disclosed. But adjudicators look at financial conduct as a whole. Unresolved debt, unpaid judgments, and active collections are treated as risk. A completed bankruptcy is treated as a resolution.
Under the federal adjudicative guidelines, a good-faith effort to resolve debts counts in your favor. Ignoring the debt does not.
We are not clearance lawyers and cannot promise an outcome. We can tell you what a filing looks like on paper and help you time it.
When orders move mid-case
A permanent change of station does not end a bankruptcy. Your case stays in the court where it was filed.
Because the 341 meeting is held by Zoom in this district, you can attend from a new duty station. Chapter 13 plan payments continue by mail or electronic transfer. Tell us as soon as orders drop so we can plan around the move.
Shift work at the mill
Nucor Steel Brandenburg opened in the Buttermilk Falls Industrial Park in October 2023. It employs around 440 people, and average annual pay runs above $72,000.
Production pay moves with hours and bonuses. That variability shows up in a means test, since the test averages six months of gross income. A strong quarter can change which chapter fits. We look at pay stubs across the whole window, not a snapshot.
What filing stops
The automatic stay starts the day you file personal bankruptcy in Kentucky. It halts wage garnishment, collection calls, repossession, and a scheduled foreclosure sale. Most lawsuits stop too.
Military pay can be garnished for some debts. Filing can stop a wage garnishment of that pay immediately in most cases.
Filing from Brandenburg
Meade County cases go to the Louisville Division of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Western District of Kentucky, at 601 West Broadway. That is roughly an hour up the road.
You will not need to make that drive. You attend a 341 meeting held by Zoom from home instead. Our office runs on Eastern Time, and so does the court.
Serving Meade County
We help clients in Brandenburg, Muldraugh, Ekron, Payneville, Battletown, and Guston. Brandenburg is the county seat and sits on the Ohio River.
Who handles your case
Nick Thompson has practiced law since 1988 and in Kentucky since 1991. He holds U.S. Tax Court License #51. He worked as an attorney for the West Virginia state tax department before moving to consumer bankruptcy.
He prepares each petition personally. Call 502-625-0905 for a free consultation.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do you work with active duty and Fort Knox families?
Will filing bankruptcy cost me my security clearance?
Do I still have to take the means test?
What happens if I get PCS orders during my case?
Do you serve Muldraugh and the rest of Meade County?
Talk to a Bankruptcy Attorney
Call 502-625-0905 or visit the office at 800 Stone Creek Parkway, Suite 6, Louisville, KY 40223.