In both Oregon and Washington, you can get rid of any tax debt in a chapter 7 bankruptcy provided that all of the following conditions are fulfilled:

1. The tax debt is not owed due to wilfull evasion or fraud. If you filed a fraudulent tax return or otherwise willfully attempted to evade paying taxes, you will not be able to discharge the debt in bankruptcy;
2. The taxes are actually income taxes. Fraud penalties and payroll taxes cannot be discharged in bankruptcy.
3. The tax return must have been originally due at least three years prior to your Chapter 7 bankruptcy filing
4. You actually filed a tax return for the debt you want to get rid of at least two years before filing for bankruptcy.
5. The income tax debt must have been assessed by the IRS at least 240 days before you file your bankruptcy petition.

Warning: Even If your taxes can be eliminate in a Chapter 7 bankruptcy case, bankruptcy will not destroy tax liens. If the IRS recorded a tax lien on your property before you file for bankruptcy, the lien will remain on the property. This means that if you ever want to sell your house, you’ll have to pay off the tax lien in order to do so.

In Portland, at the meeting of creditors, you will first hand over your proof of social security number and your photo identification to the trustee who will briefly swear you in, asking for your name and address for the record. You will then sit down at a table with your attorney seated to your left facing the trustee and his assistant.

The Portland Chapter 13 Bankruptcy Trustee’s assistant will start by asking you a simple series of questions that is asked of everybody. These questions are easy to answer with yes or no. For example, you will be asked if you listed all your creditors in your bankruptcy petition. After the assistant finishes up, the trustee’s attorney may ask some questions, but these are usually directed at your attorney, and cover technical aspects of your Plan. Your attorney will sit with you at the hearing, will answer the technical questions. The hearing usually lasts about six or seven minutes. While Creditors are allowed to attend the meeting and ask relevant questions if they want, they rarely attend.

Very rarely will any bankruptcy filer have to attend any court hearings. Normally, the only personal appearance, you will have to make is attending a “Meeting of Creditors.” The meeting of the creditors is really a short meeting with a bankruptcy trustee and no judge is present.

While the meeting is important, it is somewhat informal: There is no need to dress up for it and the tone is normally more conversational than confrontational. Very rarely will one of your creditors appear and, if a creditor does appear, it will almost always be on its best behavior.

The Bankruptcy Code, at 11 U.S.C. § 525(b) clearly and in no uncertain terms states, “No private employer may terminate the employment of, or discriminate with respect to employment against, an individual who is or has been a debtor under this title, a debtor or bankrupt under the Bankruptcy Act, or an individual associated with such debtor or bankrupt.”

It is simply against federal law for a private employer to either terminate or decline employment solely because of a bankruptcy filing. Oregon and Washington state laws also bar private employers from discriminating against bankruptcy filers.

Once you file for bankruptcy protection, the bankruptcy laws bar creditors from taking any further attempts to collect from you. This means that even if you have been sued, the creditor cannot seek a judgment or make you participate in that lawsuit without getting permission from the bankruptcy court.

If, on the other hand, you wait to file bankruptcy until after a judgment has been entered against you, a judgment lien may automatically attaches to any real estate that you may own in the county in which the judgment was either entered or transcribed. In a very real sense, the judgment converts a once unsecured debt into a secured one.

Much of the time, however, judgment liens can be avoided because they “impair” a debtor’s allowed exemptions. Provided that you do not have any more equity in your house than you can legitimately exempt(roughly $50,000 in Oregon and more than twice that amount in Washington), you can often “avoid” the judgment lien under the Bankruptcy Code. Given that few people in Portland, Vancouver or Salem have more home equity than the their allowable exemption, voiding a judgment lien should not present a great problem. Still it is far simpler, less risky and less expensive to get the case filed prior to the final judgment stage.

If you have to move to another state after your case is filed, it will not affect your case at all. Obviously, you will want to let your attorney know as soon as you move as you so that the court starts sending all relevant notices to your new address.

The District of Oregon Bankruptcy Court has two offices of the clerk. The specific location for filing bankruptcy petitions or other documents is determined by the county in which you reside.

If you reside in Benton, Coos, Curry, Douglas, Jackson, Josephine, Klamath, Lake, Lane, Lincoln, Linn, Marion or Polk counties, your bankruptcy must be filed at the Eugene office at 405 E 8th Ave #2600, Eugene, OR 97401. If you live in any other county, your bankruptcy must be filed in the Portland office at 1001 SW 5th Ave #700, Portland OR 97204.

You can add a creditor to you bankruptcy, but it is imperative that you get the information regarding that creditor (name, address, approximate amount owed and if at all possible the account number) to your attorney as quickly as possible. Though adding an additional creditor will result in a small court imposed filing fee and additional attorney fees , the cost of adding a creditor is usually a pittance compared to the possible cost of keeping them out. Of course the best possible practice is to be extremely diligent in searching for all your creditors prior to filing your bankruptcy case.

As long as the Chapter 13 Trustee approves a car purchase, you can finance a car during an Oregon Chapter 13 Bankruptcy. It is usually possible to obtain the Chapter 13 Trustee’s approval to purchase another vehicle, so long as the new vehicle’s purchase price is less than $12,000, and the monthly payment is less than $325. The Trustee will require some paperwork but nothing particularly elaborate. If you are in the middle of a Chapter 13 and need to take on a vehicle payment, find the car, obtain approval from the lender and then contact your attorney.