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Pay Down Debt Or Save? Which Should Come First

By Cathy Moran

Pay off debt first or start saving now? It’s a debate almost as convoluted as which came first, the chicken or the egg? Experts heatedly take opposite sides. You get rid of debt faster if you put all available cash into paying off balances. BUT You have no reserves for the unexpected if you spend everything that […]

Filed Under: Featured Tagged With: 2016

How To Exclude A Debt From Your Bankruptcy Discharge

By Cathy Moran

debts to pay

Some debts  you may want to carve out of your bankruptcy discharge.  Debts that for one reason or another, you really WANT to pay after your bankruptcy. I get it. There are ways to properly exclude a debt from discharge and ways to screw it up. The first way that folks try is simple, and […]

Filed Under: How bankruptcy works Tagged With: 2018, reaffirmation

Debt Collection Breakthrough Protection

By Cathy Moran

lawsuit on old debt

The new rule defines attempts to collect a time-barred debt a false or deceptive practice, forbidden to debt collectors. The new prohibition becomes effective November 30, 2021 when amendments to the rules associated with the federal Fair Debt Collection Practices Act become law. New rule applies to debt collectors Importantly, the FDCPA applies only to […]

Filed Under: Consumer Rights, Debt Collection Rights Tagged With: 2020, debt collection

Five Ways To Bankruptcy Proof Your Divorce

By Cathy Moran

No matter how prejudicial or unfair, a Chapter 13 discharge will relieve a former spouse of obligations of all obligations to their ex except for support. It’s too late to protect your hard won rights to non support payments once the bankruptcy is filed. Let’s look at how ex spouses are vulnerable to a bankruptcy discharge. Then […]

Filed Under: Consumer Rights, Family Law Tagged With: divorce

7 Essentials For Better Results From Filing Bankruptcy

By Cathy Moran

before filing bankruptcy

Plan before filing bankruptcy and you get better, more certain relief. Even if you’re not quite sure that you’re ready to take the bankruptcy plunge, scout the bankruptcy territory. Take some time to learn the rules and explore ways to maximize the relief available in bankruptcy. If you don’t plan ahead and just rush into […]

Filed Under: Considering Bankruptcy, Featured Tagged With: 2021, means test

Does My Bankruptcy Lawyer Need To Be From My City?

By Cathy Moran

find local bankruptcy lawyer

If you’re inclined pull up a map application to find a bankruptcy lawyer, I gotta ask: is proximity really the most important factor? Not by a mile. You want an experienced, local lawyer, but “local” means active before the judges in the federal judicial district where you live. It doesn’t mean having an office around […]

Filed Under: How bankruptcy works, You & your lawyer

Are You Better Off With Bankruptcy?

By Cathy Moran

Bankruptcy trends meaningless

Who cares whether bankruptcy filings are up or down? Bankruptcy professionals, certainly. Economists, probably. But if it’s you and your checkbook, you take little comfort that lots of others are filing.  Nor, when everyone else seems to be making it OK  while you flounder, are you reassured. Bankruptcy seems to follow economic expansion.  Some expansion […]

Filed Under: Considering Bankruptcy, Consumer Rights

Bankruptcy Alphabet: C is for Counseling

By Cathy Moran

Counseling, delivered by an approved provider, before the bankruptcy case is filed, is required. Fail to get counseling and your case will be dismissed. That’s my “C” word in the bankruptcy alphabet. Prebankruptcy counseling is supposed to insert an objective third party between the beleaguered individual who needs relief and the greedy lawyer who, according […]

Filed Under: ABC's of bankruptcy, How bankruptcy works

What Can Bankruptcy Do About Back Taxes

By Cathy Moran

wipe out taxes

Bankruptcy wipes out taxes and leaves you with a clean slate. But somehow, the second biggest myth about bankruptcy is that taxes can’t be discharged. Wrong, wrong, wrong. The limits on discharging taxes in bankruptcy are few. You can’t discharge That’s it. Like anything in the law, there are details that make for hard reading. […]

Filed Under: Featured, Taxes Tagged With: 2022, discharge taxes

Means Test Cheat Sheet 2: Taxes In Bankruptcy

By Cathy Moran

bankruptcy means test trick

If the most useful trick for beating the means test involves projecting health care expenses, the second most useful trick involves taxes. Tax troubles drive the filing of a large percentage of bankruptcy cases these days.  It makes sense:  bankruptcy is a powerful tax tool and a  bankruptcy judge can be a good ally when […]

Filed Under: Consumer Rights, Means test Tagged With: 2016

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Bankruptcy Basics

About The Soapbox

You’ve arrived at the Bankruptcy Soapbox, a resource of bankruptcy information and consumer law.

Soapbox is a companion site to Bankruptcy in Brief, where I try to be largely explanatory and even handed (Note I said “try”).

Here, I allow myself to tell stories and express strong opinions. We dig deeper into how to consider bankruptcy and navigate a bankruptcy case.

Moran Law Group
Bankruptcy specialists for individuals and small businesses in the San Francisco Bay Area

How Bankruptcy Works

Cheat Sheet For Passing Bankruptcy Means Test

The bankruptcy means test has a fatal weakness in its attempt to keep people out of bankruptcy. Like so much recently, it's health care. It's health care, in the future, to be paid before your creditors get any money in your bankruptcy. It works because, in a logic that only Congress could employ, the means … Read more

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