My husband and I are both in our 50's, have 3 children still living at home. We have so many cc payments that once we are done paying-we need to use them to help us get through the month. We are planning to file bankruptcy in CA within 1 or 2 weeks. We've stopped paying all but 2 of our cc as of January. Here are my questions:

1.We will be getting back a tax refund this year, so when we file our taxes-will our creditors be able to legally take our refund?

2. Should we hurry and file bankruptcy so it can be a done deal before filing our 2009 taxes next month?

3. Once someone views our previous tax returns and see's that we have received a refund in the past-will we be forced to hurry & file our taxes so they can take this refund?

We've been using our CC to get through the months-mainly for gas, groceries and a car repair. Once we file we will no longer have any credit cards to fall back on, so we want to put the tax refund in a saving for any emergencies that may arise. I'm just so scared that someone is going to take it from us. We really want to build a savings-something that we have not been able to do in the past because of paying so much out each month.

Thanks for any advice!