Bankruptcy

Read it the same week it arrives. A Kentucky wage garnishment order tells you who is taking your pay, how much they claim you owe, and how the amount is figured. It also starts a short clock. If your employer takes too much, you generally have 13 days from the date on that paycheck to…

Not by itself. Bankruptcy can wipe out your personal duty to pay some older income taxes. But if the IRS filed a tax lien before you filed bankruptcy, that lien usually survives. It stays attached to property you owned when you filed, even property that is otherwise exempt. That surprises a lot of people. It…

Often, yes. In Kentucky, a tax return filed late can still count for bankruptcy purposes, as long as you filed it before the IRS made its own return for you and assessed the tax. That is the rule from the Sixth Circuit, the federal appeals court that covers Kentucky. Other parts of the country are…

Because a discharge and a lien are two different things. Your discharge wiped out your personal duty to pay the debt. It did not erase a lien that a creditor had already recorded against your house. That lien stays on the title until a court order removes it, it expires, or it gets paid when…

Sometimes, yes. Filing before the wedding can keep your future spouse’s income off your means test and keep the case in your name only. But waiting has its own upside, like filing jointly and doubling some exemptions. The right answer depends on both incomes, whose debt it is, and how soon the wedding is. This…

Maybe. It depends on whose money is in the account and what you can prove. A joint account with your name on it has to be listed in your case, even if every dollar came from someone else. What the trustee can actually take comes down to Kentucky ownership rules, your exemptions, and your deposit…