Timothy Casey Theisen P.A.

03/16/2026

When the Economy Gets Tough, Bankruptcy Can Be a Safety Valve

If the recent economic headlines feel discouraging, you’re not imagining it. A growing number of reports suggest that many Americans are struggling financially—even as the broader economy sends mixed signals.

Recent reporting indicates that more Americans are relying on tax refunds to pay down debt, highlighting how stretched many household budgets have become. Meanwhile, credit card balances and other forms of household debt have climbed to record levels, leaving families vulnerable to rising interest rates and everyday expenses.

At the same time, delinquency rates are rising. Recent data shows 4.8% of household debt is now in some stage of delinquency, with serious credit-card delinquencies hitting the highest levels in more than a decade.

Add to that a job market that is beginning to show cracks. Some reports suggest employers have cut tens of thousands of jobs in recent months, with unemployment ticking upward and economic growth slowing in certain sectors.

In short: many households are being squeezed from multiple directions at once—higher debt, rising costs, and uncertainty about income.

Financial Trouble Doesn’t Mean Financial Failure

When people start falling behind on bills, it’s easy to feel like the situation is unique or somehow a personal failure. But economic trends tell a different story.

Many families accumulate debt simply trying to keep up with:

rising housing costs
higher grocery and fuel prices
unexpected medical expenses
job loss or reduced hours
When those pressures collide, even responsible people can find themselves relying on credit cards or loans just to stay afloat.

Bankruptcy Exists for Times Like These

The federal bankruptcy system was created to give people a fresh start when debt becomes unmanageable. Bankruptcy can:

eliminate most credit card debt
discharge many medical bills
stop collection lawsuits and garnishments
halt foreclosure or repossession temporarily
allow people to rebuild their financial lives
For many individuals, bankruptcy is not the beginning of financial trouble—it’s the end of it.

Waiting Too Long Can Make Things Worse

One of the most common mistakes people make is waiting until their financial situation becomes overwhelming before exploring options.

By the time people seek legal advice, they may already have:

drained retirement savings
borrowed from family
maxed out credit cards
taken high-interest personal loans
In many cases, bankruptcy could have stopped the financial bleeding sooner. And the sooner you file, the sooner you will get your fresh start to move forward in your life.

A Fresh Start May Be Closer Than You Think

Economic cycles come and go. Job markets fluctuate. Interest rates rise and fall. But the bankruptcy laws remain in place to give people a path forward when debt becomes unsustainable.

If you are struggling with debt, the most important step is simply learning your options. A consultation with a bankruptcy attorney can help you determine whether bankruptcy—or another strategy—might provide the relief you need.

Sometimes the hardest part is realizing that you don’t have to face financial hardship alone.

02/25/2026

Why Financial Literacy Matters — and Why the Law Still Misses the Mark

In 2024, Minnesota became one of the first states in the nation to make personal finance coursework a mandatory requirement for high school graduation — a major step toward teaching young people how to manage money, avoid overwhelming debt, and build financial resilience. But even as this milestone promises a generation better prepared for financial realities, there’s a striking irony for many adults facing financial hardship: you don’t need to learn how money works to take on debt, but you do need to demonstrate you’ve learned it to walk away from that debt through bankruptcy. Read more:

In 2024, Minnesota became one of the first states in the nation to make personal finance coursework a mandatory requirement for high school graduation — a major step toward teaching young people how to manage money, avoid overwhelming debt, and build financial resilience. But even as this mileston...

02/06/2026

When a Business Fails, It’s Usually Not the Business That Files Bankruptcy

We frequently get calls from people asking whether we handle “business bankruptcies.” The short answer is: not really — at least not in the way most callers are imagining.

Read more: https://www.theisenlaw.com/blog/2026/02/when-a-business-fails-its-usually-not-the-business-that-files-bankruptcy/

02/03/2026

How Pickleball saved my law practice

As published in the January 2026 edition of Bench & Bar (Minnesota Bar association magazine)

For 35 years, I practiced law the way I played sports: solo, competitive, and—if I’m being honest—slightly allergic to the concept of “partners.” As a consumer bankruptcy and family law practitioner with my name on the door, I preferred controlling outcomes. I approached tennis the same way. Friends in their 40s transitioned to doubles for sanity and survival, but not me—I stuck with singles, partly because my legs still worked and partly because I didn’t want to lose because someone else had a bad day. (And worse yet, I certainly didn’t want someone else losing because I had a bad day.) That same aversion to shared responsibility quietly guided my thoughts whenever I considered having a law partner. The idea of answering to a colleague when I felt like leaving early on a Friday? Absolutely not.

Then pickleball found me—well, technically, a new hip found me first. After surgery, and with my tennis snobbery still intact, I finally wandered onto a pickleball court, only to be annihilated by retirees who moved with alarming quickness. They didn’t just beat me; they did it kindly, with paddle taps, encouraging words, and the sort of emotional support I didn’t realize a grown adult could offer another while simultaneously hitting a plastic ball past them. And it felt… nice. Eventually, I had to face an uncomfortable truth: I had never been this gracious with my doubles partners in tennis. I was the guy mentally drafting a list titled “Never Partner with These People Again.” Pickleball forced me to change—because in this game, you can’t run away from doubles. It’s practically a team-building workshop in disguise.

That lesson proved invaluable when my longtime assistant of 14 years moved on and a parade of replacements rotated through my office like a poorly cast sitcom. Some didn’t follow directions. Some didn’t stay. Some needed more patience than my former tennis-self would’ve tolerated. But the pickleball version of me—the one who had learned that I should show up to make my partner’s day, not the other way around—handled things differently. I started seeing staff not as people who worked for me, but as teammates working toward the same end: the continued survival of my law firm (under the stern supervision of our true boss, the clients). I communicated more. I encouraged more. I stopped expecting mind-reading and started expecting collaboration. And slowly, miraculously, my office became a place where we enjoyed working, talked about life, supported each other, and occasionally acknowledged that we were all human—even the boss.

Pickleball left me with three mantras:
1. My partner didn’t show up to make my day; I showed up to make theirs. Shocking revelation for a lifelong soloist.

2. Treat opponents with dignity and respect. Whether across the net or across a negotiation, it turns out good manners are not fatal.

3. Win. And conveniently, when I follow the first two rules, number three often takes care of itself.

Today, at 63, I love going to work—something I never expected to say out loud, let alone publish in a professional magazine. My office runs on teamwork, grace, and humor. Just like pickleball partnerships, some work relationships last, some don’t, and some start fantastically and eventually drift apart. But I’ve learned this: When you lift up the people around you, you rise with them.

Pickleball didn’t just save my hip. It saved my practice. And it did so using a paddle, a wiffle ball, and a group of very patient seniors who ran circles around me.

01/26/2026

Here's what Bob Dylan thinks about divorce lawyers (and it ain't pretty)

Divorce is a ten billion-dollar-a-year industry. And that’s without renting a hall, hiring a band or throwing bouquets. Even without the cake that’s a lot of dough.

If you’re lucky enough to get into this racket, you can make a fortune manipulating the laws and helping destroy relationships between people who at one point or another swore undying love to one another. Nobody knows how to pull the plug on this golden goose, nor do they really want to. Most especially not those who risk nothing but who keep raking it in.

Marriage and divorce are currently played out in the courtrooms and on the tongues of gossips; the very nature of the institution has become warped and distorted, a gotcha game of vitriol and betrayal.

How many divorce lawyers are parties to this betrayal between two supposedly civilized people? The honest answer is all of them.

See link to full article (and my reply) in comments

01/20/2026

More Americans Turning to Bankruptcy as Financial Pressures Mount

Recent data from Epiq AACER—an organization that tracks U.S. bankruptcy filings using federal court records—shows a clear uptick in both consumer and business bankruptcies, signaling growing financial stress across households and companies nationwide.

More info in comments 👇

01/06/2026

01/06/2026

Who said being a landlord is about sitting around and collecting rent checks?

12/18/2025

https://www.theisenlaw.com/blog/2025/12/online-searches-for-bankruptcy-lawyer-are-surging-heres-what-that-says-about-household-debt/

Recent data shows that more Americans are struggling to keep up with their debts—and they’re increasingly turning to online searches for help. In fact, Google searches for “bankruptcy lawyer” in the United States have reached their highest level on record, surpassing previous peaks going bac...

12/17/2025

Daily dam duck walk