Northern California Bankruptcy Lawyer

On The Bankruptcy Soapbox

The Soap Box

Laboring Over Bankruptcy Papers

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Why is filing bankruptcy so much work?

Paper.  Statements. Tax returns.  Car contracts.  Pay stubs.  Appraisals.  Title reports. Credit counseling.

It gets tedious fast.

So, why is bankruptcy so complicated?

Do you want the polite, professional answer, or the pointed, political answer?

Bankruptcy bargain

Polite answer first:  the bankruptcy bargain, your deal with the legal system & your creditors, is disclosure in exchange for the discharge.

Make full disclosure of what you have, who you owe, and what you’ve done with your money recently and you get a discharge.

You need to cooperate with the trustee and live with the legal consequences of the mix of assets, exemptions, and avoidance powers.

But tell the whole story honestly and you shed the dischargeable debts in your life.

Political answer

The more opinionated answer is that filing bankruptcy is lots of work because Congress and the businesses who funded Congressmen a decade ago wanted to discourage bankruptcy.

After all, creditors don’t get everything they bargained for when a consumer discharges their debt.  So big-money types didn’t want to let consumer off the hook through bankruptcy.

Some lawmakers believed that not paying your debts, regardless of the reason, was a moral failing.  Don’t want to make it easy to be immoral.

Senator Grassley just plain hates lawyers, so if he could make it difficult for bankruptcy lawyers and keep good lawyers out of the field, bankruptcy “reform” was a great deal.

BAPCPA, the bankruptcy law passed in 2005, added lots of additional things to file, exercises to complete, reasons to get kicked out of bankruptcy to discourage people from filing.

There’s even a theory out there that a creditor goal in the new law was to extend the time necessary to prepare a bankruptcy case for a couple of months more. while folks kept making minimum payments.  Minimum payments mean maximizing profits.

So bankruptcy is hard work because Congress wants it to be hard, so maybe you won’t file.

Client lament

One of my clients just complained that to prepare his bankruptcy papers,  my paralegal asked him for the same information I had asked him when we first met.

It may seem like duplication to the client, but not to the attorney.

As an attorney, I want to see the big picture for the client, the relationship between income, assets, and debts.  I want to know what the client expects in his financial future.

And what it is that brings them to my office TODAY rather than last month or next year.  What’s happening that you made an appointment to talk with a bankruptcy lawyer?

Having decided to file, the bankruptcy forms that my paralegal is drafting require the story in fine detail, not broad strokes.

How many payments left on your car loan?  Is your retirement account ERISA qualified?  Who else lives under your roof and do they pay for the privilege?

And on, and on.  Because Congress wants to make this hard.

Bankruptcy not hard

But at the end of the day, and after BAPCPA, bankruptcy relief is still broadly available.  It just takes a slog to get it done.

But on Labor Day, or any day,  we honor hard work.

And in my office, we help with the work required to wipe out debts.

More

How to interview a bankruptcy lawyer

What should bankruptcy cost?

What’s life like after bankruptcy?

Bankruptcy Discharge Slays IRS Form 1099

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In a duel between a tax Form 1099 and a bankruptcy discharge, bankruptcy wins every time.

The prize?  no tax on debt discharged in bankruptcy.

So, if you’ve already gotten your discharge, the creditor’s 1099, with your social security number on it, is no threat.

But you do need to file another form to secure the prize.

Bankruptcy is exception to tax

Normally, when an obligation is forgiven, the tax code treats the amount of forgiveness as if it were income.  And income is exposed to tax.

Insolvency is another exception to tax on forgiven debt

But forgiveness in bankruptcy in the first exception to the rule.

Debt forgiven in bankruptcy is not treated as income.

Creditor is clueless

So, if bankruptcy is outside the IRS rule, why are you getting a form 1099?

Because there’s another rule, requiring creditors to report to the IRS, just the way your employer is required to send the IRS your W-2.

And seemingly, the creditor can’t figure out that the reason its claim is worthless is because of the bankruptcy discharge.  So it’s easier for the creditor to just send out Form 1099, and make it your problem.

Fixing the 1099 problem

The solution is simple:  file IRS form 982.

Title 11 is the part of the United States Code on bankruptcy.  Cases are filed under different chapters of that title

Form 982 is your rebuttal to the report that you have taxable income because your debt was forgiven.  Check the very first box on the form claiming the bankruptcy exception.

This debt is excluded from income because of  Discharge of indebtedness in a title 11 case 

The IRS provides a set of instructions for filing  your “get out of tax” form.  Form  982 Instructions.

Other tax consequences of discharge

If you have real property, you may have to reduce your basis in assets by the amount of debt discharged in your bankruptcy.

But thankfully, there is an exception to this rule too:  no reduction in basis is required with respect to your principal residence claimed exempt in your bankruptcy case.  IRC 1017(c).

Tax action plan

So there you have the skinny on form 1099 and your bankruptcy discharge.

Bankruptcy has other tax implications:

Taxes dischargeable in bankruptcy

Unfiled tax years are never dischargeable

Chapter 13 gets an interest-free tax repayment plan

Your accountant needs to know about your bankruptcy

What to do with a flat-wrong 1099

The Zero Interest Get-Out-Of-Debt Tool: Bankruptcy For The Solvent

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chapter 13 rescue

Once again, Chapter 13 rescued a client.

He’ll get out of debt and pay off credit cards with no interest going forward.

So many people tell me they could pay off the credit card balance if it wasn’t for the high interest.

This client owned a home, had a job, and was solvent on paper, but he couldn’t sleep for worry about his debts.

Despite having lots of equity in a house, there wasn’t not enough income to retire the debt when the mortgage resets in the spring.

Chapter 7 would get rid of the debt, but cost him his house.

Thank goodness for Chapter 13, where you

  • keep your assets,
  • propose a plan, and
  • get a discharge.

Chapter 13 gets my client out from under credit cards with ruinous interest rates, reduces the interest rate on his high interest car loan, and lets him sleep at night knowing he won’t lose his house to unsecured creditors.

A pretty good deal for a $310 filing fee.

Interest free debt repayment

The good news is that the equity in his house requires that his Chapter 13 plan pay his debts in full. But, “in full” does not mean “with the usual credit card interest”.

Pay off the cards in full in Chapter 13 and you pay only the federal judgment rate.  Currently , that’s little more than  one half of one percent, instead of 18-34% due under the credit card agreements.

To pay off the cards according to their terms outside of bankruptcy, most of each payment for a long while goes to interest.  That’s why credit card issuers are content to have you carry a balance.

For this client, we figure that a 100% repayment plan for the cards and the tax debt will require a payment about 1/3 of what he currently pays each month on the cards.

No need to be broke to file bankruptcy

This client looks good on paper.  He’s solvent due to lots of equity in his house.   He’s current on his bills.

He just sees the freight train coming down the tracks when he reaches the end of the interest-only feature on his home equity loan.

You don’t have to be upside down, financially, to file bankruptcy.  You only need to be willing to play by the rules of the Bankruptcy Code for dealing with your creditors.

The applicable rule for this client says:  if you keep your house with that much equity, you must pay the creditors in full.

Bankruptcy won’t change the terms of his home loan, it will just spread out and pay off the other debts that have a claim on his monthly income.

And, he can stop underwithholding on his taxes.  He had increased his exemptions to get more cash monthly, leaving him owing taxes at the end of the year.

Part of our plan is making the withholding match the taxes owed, so we don’t have a recurring tax problem.

13 was my client’s lucky number.

More

Why I love Chapter 13

Update on California homestead

Who Owns Your Business When You File Bankruptcy?

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business bankruptcy

The bankruptcy trustee’s question was straightforward (if inartful) yet the business owner nearly blew the answer.

The trustee asked:  are you the sole owner of your business?

When my client hesitated, she followed up:  are you a sole proprietor?

Focusing on the fact that he was the only person with an interest in the business, he said yes.

Wait a minute, was my response. That’s not so.

It took several minutes of sworn testimony at the first meeting of creditors to sort the matter out.

Who owns the corporate business

We were once again experiencing the phenomenon of the shape-shifting business owner.  The businessman had, in his mind, morphed into a sole proprietor rather than a stockholder.

The debtor was the sole owner of the corporation that owned and operated the failed business.

He was correct that no one else had an interest.  He skipped over the part that it was another legal entity, his corporation, that actually owned the assets and owed the debts of the business.

He owned the corporation that owned the business.

Why it matters

A sole proprietor owns a business as a personal asset.  In law, he owns the assets of the business and is liable for its debts.

A sole proprietorship has no legal existence separate from the owner.  The proprietorship may adopt a fictitious business name, but behind that dba is the individual who owns and operates the business.

So, if my client were a sole proprietor, the inventory of the business would have been an asset of the bankruptcy estate created when he filed bankruptcy.  The business bank accounts would fall to the control of the trustee.

When a corporation is created, it becomes a legal entity distinct from the individuals who own the shares in the corporation.  The corporation can have its own debts and its own funds that don’t belong directly to the shareholders.

That’s why business people incorporate:  to create a legal “person” that can take risks without exposing the shareholder’s other assets to that risk.

When my client filed his Chapter 7 case, his stock in the corporation was an asset of the bankruptcy estate, but not the business itself.  The business was owned and operated by the corporation.

Since the corporation had tons of debts, the stock that the bankruptcy trustee could administer had no net value.  That’s because, equity holders get money when a corporation liquidates only after creditors of the corporation have been paid off.

The takeaway

The first meeting of creditors in a bankruptcy case is the trustee’s opportunity to gather more information about what the debtor owns and owes.

Once you focus on what the trustee needs to get from the meeting, it’s easier to answer correctly and avoid the confusion that happened in my case.

When confusion ensues, it’s important to sort it out on the spot.

And that’s how I earned my keep in this case.

More

Rules for testifying at a bankruptcy hearing

How corporate officers can avoid personal liability

When a business needs to wind down

Make California Homestead Relevant To 2020

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homestead bill passed

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 financial special interest lobbyists interests to defeat homestead protections.

That is, unless members of the California Legislature hear from constituents before Monday’s vote. Send a message now!

How the homestead became outdated

Forty five years ago, the homestead protected an amount almost equal to the median price of a California home. But today, the current homestead equals only about 15% of the median home’s value.

The homestead exemption is supposed to protect families from losing their home. It protects a certain amount of money from the forced sale of the home by unsecured creditors like credit card companies and medical providers.

But as home prices have increased, the current homestead amount comes nowhere close to allowing an ousted family to replace their home.

Worse, the disconnect between the market value of a family home and the homestead makes too many homes vulnerable to forced sale to pay creditors in bankruptcy by a Chapter 7 trustee.

That disconnect also can put Chapter 13 out of reach for distressed homeowners, when their income is insufficient to pay creditors the amount unprotected by the homestead.

Without meaningful protection for the family home, homeowners are effectively barred from bankruptcy protection. They have to choose between submitting to relentless collection action outside of bankruptcy, or filing bankruptcy and giving up their home.

The homestead solution

The legislation up for vote on the 31st puts a floor under the homestead exemption. All California homeowners get a homestead of $300,000. A larger homestead would be available in counties where the median price of a home is more than $300,000, tied to actual local sales, and capped at $600,000.

A homestead exemption more closely in line with today’s economic realities is particularly important to seniors whose life savings are often in their home. Without a meaningful homestead exemption, creditors can gobble up the unprotected equity in the home when seniors need to downsize.

Be heard for a realistic homestead

All it takes to voice your support for SB 832, and its mirror bill AB 1885 is a minute. NACBA, the national organization of consumer bankruptcy lawyers, has created a one click way to find your representative and send a message of support for protection of California home ownership.

act now

Click this link, enter your name and address and NACBA’s VoterVoice will send a message of support for a better homestead law to save California homes. Click now, time is short.

Is Bankruptcy In Your Future?

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Tough economic times make us think about escape by filing bankruptcy. Bankruptcy offers a straight forward, predictable and immediate solution.

But to get full measure of bankruptcy relief, you need to know which problems bankruptcy solves and when the time is best to file.

Which problems bankruptcy solves

Bankruptcy deals with debt, with the outflow side of the financial equation. It provides little help if the more fundamental problem is insufficient income.

Bankruptcy’s greatest impact is to reduce the number of creditors holding old claims against you who get a piece of today’s income.

aautomatic stay

Bankruptcy’s other “superpower” is the automatic stay. It brings to a halt almost all collection actions. It stops foreclosures, levies, garnishments, and even collection calls.

And upon entry of the bankruptcy discharge, those collection actions are permanently stopped. The exception is possibly debts where the creditor has a lien you gave the creditor, like mortgages and car loans.

Timing bankruptcy is everything

The most frequent mistakes made in filing bankruptcy revolve around the timing of the filing. File too soon, or too late, and you lose advantages to maximize the benefits of bankruptcy.

File too soon

when to file bankruptcy

Instances of filing too soon include filing too close in time to a prior bankruptcy case that was dismissed. Filing right after a previous case was tossed out of bankruptcy court may limit or even preclude a stay in the new case. More.

The ability to discharge taxes is tied to the age of the tax debt and when the return was filed. Just a few days too soon and the tax survives the bankruptcy.

Your eligibility for a discharge in a new case is dependent on how long ago you got an earlier bankruptcy discharge and what chapter each case is filed under. While you can always file a case, whether you get a discharge in that case depends on timing.

If you’ve moved from state to state in the past three years, your choices for which state’s exemption system you can use turns on where you lived two years ago. Once you know which set of exemptions is better, you can time your filing to your advantage.

Filing too late

Filing bankruptcy after a foreclosure or eviction judgment provides no relief to the person filing. Bankruptcy protects what you own or have legal rights to on the day you file.

after eviction

After foreclosure or eviction, you have nothing to protect other perhaps that the naked right to possession, which won’t last long.

Wait until after your wages or bank account have been garnished and you may have lost money that could have been protected in a case filed earlier. While the law allows you to recover money taken by legal process that would have been exempt, that process is expensive and time consuming.

Liquidating retirement assets to pay unsecured debts is another painful example to waiting too long to choose bankruptcy. Retirement assets are almost always 100% exempt, protected from your creditors. Using that hard-won money for your old age on today’s debts is usually unnecessary and ill advised.

Get professional help with timing

Most people’s circumstances include some of the “file now” elements AND some “wait awhile” ones. The stress of being in debt makes it harder to think through the various scenarios.

Enlist a bankruptcy lawyer to assess your situation and to help you measure the urgency of your problems. Even within the world of lawyers, bankruptcy is a specialty; there’s no reason to think that you ought to be able to work it out on your own.

When the time is right, bankruptcy relief is available.

More

Who to pay when you can’t pay everyone

How to interview a bankruptcy lawyer

What should bankruptcy cost

What’s Wrong With Most Get-Out-Of-Debt Advice

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consider bankruptcy

Get-out-of-debt gurus too often miss the essential truth known to every carpenter.

Measure twice, cut once

Too many trite lists of tips to help you get out of debt miss the vital first step.

Before you choose a get-out-of-debt path, assess your situation.

When you put bankruptcy at the bottom of the list, to be chosen only after everything else has failed, you may spend a lot of time  hopelessly floundering. A lot of stress. A lot of cash spent without achieving your goal.

Instead

Measure the size of your problem.

Inventory the tools you have available.

Know how long you have to get the job done.

There’s little point in attacking substantial tax debt by cutting out Starbucks.  Nor is bankruptcy the right tool for a couple thousand dollars in credit card debt.

There’s no one-size-fits-all when it comes to debt.  Whip out your financial tape measure, and check the factors that make a difference here.

 

 

California Bankruptcy Law Is All Our Own

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california bankruptcy law

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

California community property law defines what assets of a married couple come within the control of the bankruptcy court. While there are other community property states, it is the law of each state that defines how community property is created.  State law also defines the rights of creditors in that community property.

Whether one spouses files, or both join in a bankruptcy case, all of the community is available to the creditors of the marriage.

In return, after the bankruptcy all community property is forever protected by the discharge.   Post bankruptcy wages and purchases are beyond the reach of creditors.

Even when only one spouse files, all the community gets protection from creditors who had claims when the case was filed.

Much different from the treatment of marital property other places.

Two California exemption laws

While bankruptcy is federal law, California state law defines  exemptions.  Exemptions specify assets a debtor can protect from creditors in bankruptcy.

Exemptions are the only place in bankruptcy that the law is explicitly different from state to state.

Congress, in a legislative compromise in 1978 on the adoption of the Bankruptcy Code (back when Congress knew how to compromise), states were given the option to opt out of the federal bankruptcy exemptions in favor of the state’s exemptions.

In response, California’s legislature gave debtors a choice:  the existing state law exemptions found in Code of Civil Procedure 704, or a special set of California bankruptcy exemptions starting at CCP 703.140.

California homestead increased to better match home values

Mortgage debt dominates

California boasts (or suffers) home loan balances that make eyes bug in other states.  The cost of housing here skews family budgets, leaving less for other living expenses.

Why the means test is toothless in the Bay Area

For many years, credit cards were used to fill the gap between the available income and the expectations of comfortable living.

For homeowners, the deduction for mortgage payments on the means test assures most homeowners that they pass the means test.

The increasing cost of renting has sharpened the drive to save a house from foreclosure, at whatever cost.

Bankruptcy can often make that possible in Chapter 13.

9th Circuit shapes us

California bankruptcy judges are bound by the decisions of the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals.  The circuit courts can only be overruled by the Supreme Court.

So, the decisions made by the 9th Circuit on bankruptcy issues drive outcomes that may be different from outcomes in other circuits.

Recently the 9th Circuit made some very satisfying decisions for bankruptcy debtors, including allowing lien stripping in Chapter 20;  granting attorneys fees to debtors who win bankruptcy disputes with their creditors; and slapping down bankruptcy trustees who sought to disqualify Chapter 13 debtors who had secured debts for non essentials.

And, the 9th Circuit rejected its earlier, horrible decision about making debtors whole when creditors violate the automatic stay.

Bankruptcy the product of our environment

So, sorry to disappoint, there is no “California bankruptcy law.”

There’s just the granite of the Bankruptcy Code, fractured, shaped, and worn by the economic and legal realities of California.

And the resulting landscape is generally awesome.

More on California

The California fair debt collection law

California limits on debt collection

If you’re sued in California courts

Mortgage Forbearance For Non-government Backed Loans

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Covid 19 home loan forbearance

Are you one of the homeowners whose mortgage isn’t eligible for the government’s COVID forbearance protections?

Home loans not backed by the federal government are excluded from the protections for borrowers implemented by FHFA .

But as much as one third of US home loans are not backed by the federal government. If that includes you, here’s what the National Consumer Law Center has to say about your options in times of COVID-19.

Assisting Homeowners Who Do NOT Have a Federally Backed Mortgage Loan

If a homeowner has a mortgage loan that does not meet the definition of “federally backed mortgage loan,” CARES Act protections do not apply (except for the credit reporting provisions in CARES Act § 4021, discussed above).

State Foreclosure Relief

Many states have adopted broad foreclosure moratoriums that protect borrowers regardless of loan type, and some states have instituted mortgage loan forbearance programs.

For a continuously updated list, showing which actions are still current, see Covid-19 State Foreclosure Moratoriums and Stays.

Voluntary Federal Guidance

Federal bank regulators have issued guidance encouraging institutions to work with borrowers and relaxing some standards that may previously have limited a servicer’s flexibility to offer relief.

How to Get Non-CARES Act Relief and What to Ask For

Borrowers should contact their servicer by phone or online. Online may be the faster option as servicers are currently overwhelmed by the number of calls they are receiving. Log in to the borrower’s account and see what options the servicer is offering. It may be possible to apply online.

Borrowers can also request assistance by writing to the servicer. Check the servicer’s website or a recent account statement for the appropriate mailing address. Letters to the wrong address may be delayed or lost (or not effective if intended as a Request for Information).

Frame the letter as a Request for Information (RFI) about loss mitigation options. Such a letter will be governed by the response rules in RESPA’s Regulation X.

A sample RFI borrowers may use to ask about available loss mitigation options can be found here (PDF version) (MS Word). A sample RFI that advocates may use for information about a loss mitigation application can be found at of NCLC’s Mortgage Servicing and Loan Modifications Appx. E.2.7.

There is a private right of action to enforce these rules.

Used with permission. The entire NCLC article is found here.

Protecting your home

For those with loans not backed by the government, the options are clearly going to be less standardized and less predictable.

It’s worth watching the news for further government programs that impact non-federal home loans: the situation is certainly in flux.

Know that if you can’t reach an acceptable deal with your servicer, Chapter 13 is a workable tool for curing mortgage arrears while being protected from forclosure.

More

How Chapter 13 works to save your home

Is It Too Late For Bankruptcy?

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file bankruptcy`

Worried that it’s too late to file bankruptcy?

You’ve put off considering bankruptcy, hoping to tough it out, or hoping for a miracle.

But at some point, time runs out:  you’ve been served with a lawsuit;  judgment has been entered against you; or even, a garnishment appears on your paycheck.

Is it too late? Have you’ve waited too long for bankruptcy to help?

While I don’t recommend procrastination,  at almost every stage of debt collection, bankruptcy can save your bacon, or at least what’s left of your bacon.

Served with a lawsuit

When a summons and complaint lands on your doorstep, the clock starts ticking on the time you have to file a written answer to the complaint.

Skip filing an answer and the outfit suing you wins whatever the complaint prays for.

Filing bankruptcy at this point stops the lawsuit in its tracks.  The automatic stay that comes, automatically(!), with the bankruptcy case forbids further action in that suit without express court permission.

Assuming the debt doesn’t involve dishonesty or family support (or several more, less likely things), any liability you have on the debt is discharged at the end of your bankruptcy case.  End of story.

So, it’s not to late to file if you’ve been sued.

You lose a lawsuit

Once a judgment is entered against you, bankruptcy can still help.

Just because a court has determined that you owe the money and the creditor is entitled to all the legal remedies to get its money, the debt may still be discharged in bankruptcy.

The kinds of debts that can’t be discharged are based on the nature of the debt, not where the debt is in the collection process.  Bankruptcy law says that you can’t escape your obligation to support your family or pay your recent taxes, or escape debts created by fraud or other serious dishonesty.

But garden variety credit cards, loans and medical bills can be discharged, even after there is a judgment entered for the debt.

Wait until judgment is entered and there are some consequences that might limit relief in bankruptcy.

Chapter 13 has limits on the amount of debt you can owe and qualify for Chapter 13.  Once a judgment is entered, the amount of the debt is fixed and it might put you over the debt limits.

Another limiting consequence of waiting til judgment is entered is that a finding by a court that you committed fraud or misrepresentation may require a bankruptcy court to make the same finding.  The debt may then be excluded from the discharge.

With those exceptions, it’s not too late to file bankruptcy if a judgment has been entered against you.

Creditor gets a judgment lien

Bankruptcy can change the balance of power even if you’ve waited til the creditor with a judgment has perfected a judgment lien against your assets.  How much change is possible depends on the exemptions available when you file bankruptcy.

One of the basic principles of bankruptcy is that the bankruptcy discharge eliminates your personal liability, but liens survive the bankruptcy attached to the assets you had when you filed.

But there’s hope:  you are permitted to avoid judgment liens that interfere with any exemptions you could claim in an asset.  It doesn’t matter how fresh, or how old, the lien is.  If it prevents you from getting the benefit of an exemption, you can avoid it.

Avoiding a lien requires filing a motion in your bankruptcy case.  It doesn’t happen automatically.  And if you forget to do it in your bankruptcy, you can reopen the bankruptcy case in the future to file the motion.

It’s not too late to discharge your personal liability for a judgment and eliminate the judgment lien as well in bankruptcy.

Your wages are garnished

By the time your wages are threatened with garnishment, your creditor has a judgment.  That judgment brings with it the power allowed by state law to collect that judgment.

But just like each scenario we’ve discussed here, a garnishment can be stopped by filing bankruptcy and getting the automatic stay in place.

Your creditor may be entitled to what ever wages you have earned between the time the garnishment was served on your employer and the day you file bankruptcy.  But gong forward, your wages are yours.

Garnishment survival guide

Bankruptcy law also lets you recover amounts your creditor got in the 90 days before you filed bankruptcy.  Wait longer than 90 days, and you lose the right to reclaim the garnished funds.

Bankruptcy stops garnishments.

Timing is up to you

At almost every point in a collection suit, filing bankruptcy can stop the bleeding and allow you to eliminate your debt.  The discharge makes that debt forever uncollectible from you and your assets.

There is some damage to your finances that bankruptcy can’t undo.  Borrow against your home or invade your retirement assets to pay bills that you ultimately discharge in bankruptcy, and you have no legal ways to get that money back.

If you’re facing debts you can’t pay, make a plan.  Early is better than late.

More

The advice you need before making changes

Spending money before you file bankruptcy

When it’s smart to wait to file

Image courtesy of Flickr and openDemocracy

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Suite 403
Redwood City, CA 94063
Phone: (650) 694-4700

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