The California Legislature enacted a dramatic increase to the state’s homestead law at the very end of the legislative session in August. It became effective January 1, 2021. The dollar amount of the homestead increased to a minimum of $300,000 and a maximum of $600,000. Gone is the link between marital status or dependents. Every […]
Search Results for: home values increase
Make California Homestead Relevant To 2020
Governor Newsom signed the bill into law September 18, 2020! Monday August 31, the Assembly will vote on SB 832 updating the California homestead exemption to reflect today’s home values. An unexpected move in the legislature pulled the provision for updated exemption amount out of a larger bill, making it vulnerable to a campaign by […]
When Stagnant Home Values Mean Huge Savings
I thought the lien stripping ship had sailed. We are finally climbing out of the worst of the Great Recession and California real estate values are recovering. Turns out, I was wrong. It’s not too late to reduce your mortgage debt by tens, or even hundreds of thousands of dollars, if you live where real […]
How Rising Home Values May Threaten Your Long Term Finances
The news on the San Francisco Peninsula is echoing reports of rising home values. That may seem like unmitigated good news. It’s hard to see a genuine recovery in California without the housing market improving. But rising home values may doom a once-in-a-generation chance for homeowners to shed the second mortgages and HELOCs that currently […]
Family Lawyer’s Cheat Sheet to Bankruptcy
Here, in a nutshell, are bankruptcy basics for family lawyers. This isn’t everything you need to know to navigate a dissolution where one spouse files bankruptcy, or when marital debts suggest both spouses should file. It’s a start. You can get the basic introduction to concepts and terms operative in bankruptcy here. For a look […]
California Bankruptcy Law Is All Our Own
California Bankruptcy law is a lot like a unicorn….appealing but imaginary. Instead, we have bankruptcy in California, where the landscape is shaped by community property; state exemptions, large mortgages, and the 9th circuit court of appeals. Like the Merced River cutting through the granite of Yosemite, those factors alter the bankruptcy landscape here. Community property […]
When Chapter 20 Bankruptcy Adds Up
You can look a long time in the Bankruptcy Code without finding Chapter 20. Chapter 7 is there; so are Chapters 11 and 13. But no 20. But you find it in bankruptcy courtrooms and in the arsenal of good bankruptcy lawyers. So, what’s up? Chapter 20 is really bankruptcy slang. It’s a Chapter 7 case […]
Lien Stripping Works Without A Bankruptcy Discharge
The waiting and uncertainty is over. The judges have decided. Chapter 13 debtors can void underwater junior liens even if they aren’t eligible for a bankruptcy discharge in the Chapter 13 case. So says the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in a case called Blendheim, decided October 1. And so, a myriad of Chapter 20 debtors […]
The One Fix Silicon Valley Bankruptcy Courts Need
Despite BAPCPA, the 2005 “reform” that made bankruptcy more complex and more expensive, consumer bankruptcy is working fairly well in Northern California. The bar has learned to navigate the new law, shuffle the additional forms and avoid the events of “automatic dismissal”. We only need one little change to the law to make relief from […]
