Articles from Oregon Bankruptcy Lawyer | Portland, Salem, and Vancouver, Wa

If you lost your Oregon home in a foreclosure or gave it up in a short sale prior to 2014, there were no tax repercussions to the forgiveness of debt. Unfortunately, the exception in the tax laws that made this so has now expired.

Do I file jointly with my spouse or can I just file alone? Every prospective bankruptcy filer in the state of Oregon asks this question. Many Portland and Salem filers just don’t want their spouses involved, particularly if the would be filer just isn’t comfortable with the potential impact it could have on their spouse. For other prospective Oregon Bankruptcy filers, the idea of dragging their spouse through the filling process just isn’t particularly appealing.

In Oregon, if a judgement has been entered against you and you have not filed  bankruptcy, the judgement creditor can garnish your bank account. Once your bank account is garnished, you will receive a challenge to garnishment form which is sometimes also referred to as a Claim of Exemption. Once you receive it,  you will need to complete the form and file it with the court as quickly as possible in order to claim that your property is exempt from garnishment.

The unfortunate answer to this question is yes they can. Oregon case law permits bank’s the right of set off which enables them to take money out of your account to pay back any money you owe to them as long as you have signed an agreement giving them that right. If you signed such an agreement, it probably wasn’t when you set up the actual account but when you signed up for the credit card or took out the loan.