Your right to receive unemployment is an exempt asset. If you are expecting to file a bankruptcy case, by the time you are able to gather all of the information and we prepare your case, you will probably already be receiving your regular weekly amounts.

There is simply no way to know, because we don’t know what it would include. However, if it looks like the existing stimulus program, the trustees will probably not pursue it. More importantly, if you file a bankruptcy before a new stimulus bill is passed, any additional funds would be yours to keep.

As far as we know, you will not lose it. If you have already received it, we will help you figure out the best use of the funds prior to filing the case. If you have not received it yet, the U.S. Trustee’s office has published guidelines suggesting that trustees in bankruptcy should not be seeking to take possession of these funds

If you’re in a chapter 7 case that was filed, then the tax refund is not your property, and the portion owed to the bankruptcy estate must be paid, or you will lose your discharge. If you’re in a chapter 13, there may be some flexibility in turning over the money now versus paying it into the bankruptcy plan over time. Either way though, the money is property of the “bankruptcy estate”.