Going to court for your first meeting of creditors? What are they going to ask me?, you wonder. My bankruptcy clients imagine a quiz on the contents of their bankruptcy papers. Or worse, an inquisition on why they needed to file bankruptcy. That’s not likely. The first meeting of creditors is much more likely to […]
California Homestead Grows With Inflation: Calculating The Homestead Increase
Calculating California’s homestead reveals the homestead in 2022 is now capped at $626,400. That’s even more generous than the originally enacted $600,000. And it will change next year. To calculated the current homestead exemption, you need an armful of data (and a bit of math). Because, the new law provided not only for a bigger […]
Get A Voodoo Discharge Without Filing Bankruptcy
One of the great mysteries of debtor/creditor law is the community property discharge in bankruptcy. When only one spouse files bankruptcy in a community property state like California, the non filing spouse reaps bunches of benefits that creditors can’t imagine. Benefits that aren’t explicitly described in books about bankruptcy or understood by creditors. Those benefits […]
What To Disclose In Bankruptcy Papers
If the headline drew you in, like the Geico gecko, you can complain you’ve been duped. There’s no decision involved: in bankruptcy papers, you disclose everything. Period. Disclosure is the price of the bankruptcy discharge. Shortchange the system by leaving out inconvenient facts and you risk both the omitted asset and the discharge. Understand the […]
Bankruptcy And Divorce Collide: The Threatened Filing
My soon-to-be ex threatens to file a bankruptcy tomorrow and get me kicked out of the house. The frantic voice on the phone wanted to know whether he could do that in California. Or better, how he could be stopped from upsetting the pending divorce through the bankruptcy courts. Welcome to the volatile collision between bankruptcy and […]
Bankruptcy and “Ruining your credit score”
No matter how precarious their financial situation, almost every client I meet thinks bankruptcy will ruin their credit score. Not only ruin it, but damage it for all time, precluding normal life after bankruptcy. Some resolve to stagger along, burdened with their debt and the fear of escaping debt. So, my encounter with a financial […]
New Bankruptcy Trends From An Old Hand
I’m seeing a real change in the people seeing me about filing bankruptcy. Used to be, the problem was credit card debt, unemployment, or divorce. A surprising trend over the past six months is developing. I acknowledge the sample size is small. Statistically, you can challenge the significance, but here are the trends. My office is […]
4 Compelling Reasons To File The Tax Return Even If You Can’t Pay
Should you file the tax return if you can’t pay the tax? You got to the bottom of your tax return and the amount you owe is bigger than your checkbook balance. Scared of filing the return for fear of immediate collection action? Scared of even calculating how much you owe? think an extension of […]
Before You List Your Home For Sale: The Essential First Task
Selling your home? Before you list your home, before you interview a realtor, before you lift a paint brush, or clean a closet, you need to write a letter. A letter to the servicer of your mortgage. You want full disclosure of what charges, fees, expenses and other “stuff” they want to collect from […]
Can A Trust Protect You In Bankruptcy?
Can a living trust protect your assets in bankruptcy? Or, anywhere else? According to the lawyer advertising and the self-help books, everyone needs a living trust. The asset protection industry loves irrevocable trusts, another much touted trust. An irrevocable trust gets assets out of your name for all time. Unless of course, they are attacked in […]
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