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Pay Off Credit Cards At Zero Percent

By Cathy Moran

I’ve got news for you: There’s a government program that lets you pay the balance on your credit card without interest and owe nothing more. Sound like one of those snarky radio ads? This one’s legit. Meet Chapter 13. Credit card interest is the killer Here’s the refrain I hear from clients, over and over. I […]

Filed Under: Chapter 13, Featured

No Foreclosure If Loan Modification In Process

By Cathy Moran

The cruelest trick played on homeowners trying to modify their mortgage was dual tracking. One side of the bank assured the borrower that their loan modification application was being considered and they didn’t need to worry. All the while, the other side of the bank was conducting a foreclosure sale. The borrower wakes up to […]

Filed Under: Real property & mortgages

Family Lawyer’s Cheat Sheet to Bankruptcy

By Cathy Moran

family lawyer in 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 to a complex issue. You can get the basic introduction to concepts and terms operative in bankruptcy […]

Filed Under: Consumer Rights, Family Law Tagged With: 2021, divorce, family law

Bankruptcy Is Not Your Last Resort

By Cathy Moran

bankruptcy choice

Every personal finance guru intones that “bankruptcy is the last resort.” In my opinion, they have it wrong: bankruptcy is the big gun in getting out of a financial mess. But it shouldn’t be the last thing you try to get financially healthy. You shouldn’t mess around with lesser solutions if those solutions don’t do […]

Filed Under: Considering Bankruptcy, Consumer Rights Tagged With: 2017

Doing The Means Test Yourself

By Cathy Moran

Posts on internet bankruptcy boards feature individuals who have “filled out the means test” and then proceed to announce their conclusions. Given the uncertainties in the legal community about how to apply the means test, I can’t imagine a non lawyer learning anything reliable from trying to do this themselves.  As a certified bankruptcy specialist, I […]

Filed Under: How bankruptcy works, Means test

Bankruptcy Alphabet: K Is For Keep

By Cathy Moran

The letter K is for the stuff you keep through bankruptcy. The cartoon image of someone going through bankruptcy has them wearing a barrel instead of clothes. It’s a funny image but it’s not real. Most debtors keep far more of their assets than you’d image. Here’s why. Exemption law protects assets The Bankruptcy Code […]

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

California Courts Provide On Line Help

By Cathy Moran

legal help

Individuals with matters before the state courts of California have an updated resource in the Self Help Center. The information here can be either good background if you have a legal problem or a treasure-trove if you expect to represent yourself in court. It even includes a section on bankruptcy, as part of the materials […]

Filed Under: Strictly California

Who Profits When Money Trouble Is Shameful?

By Cathy Moran

money troubles taboo

Talking about our financial troubles is taboo in this society. In fact, we are more willing to talk about our sex lives than our money troubles. We lionize those who make a fortune.  Everyone expects to live the middle class life. It becomes easy to think that something is wrong with you if you aren’t […]

Filed Under: Considering Bankruptcy, Consumer Rights Tagged With: debt settlement

Epedemic of DIY Chapter 13s to Stop Foreclosures End in Trajedy

By Cathy Moran

Warning: virulent outbreak of do-it-yourself bankruptcies all around. Symptoms:  panic over prospect of foreclosure Supposed remedy:  file your own skeleton Chapter 13 bankruptcy to stop foreclosure Prognosis: enjoy the stay for about 2 weeks, followed by foreclosure relapse Homeowners facing foreclosure Three different would-be clients called in a 10 day period this month, to stop […]

Filed Under: Real property & mortgages Tagged With: 2019, automatic stay, foreclosure

How To Write A Contract Without A Lawyer & Make It Stick

By Cathy Moran

writing your own contract

Even in a world where people attempt almost any skilled task with the help of Google, YouTube, or Legal Zoom,  people continue to ask: is this contract legal? They aren’t asking (usually) whether the subject matter of the contract is permitted by law. They really want to know: will what I’ve written be enforceable. What makes it […]

Filed Under: Consumer Rights, Small business Tagged With: draft contract

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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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