• Home
  • Bankruptcy in Brief
  • ABC’s of Bankruptcy
  • Considering Bankruptcy
  • True Stories
  • Chapter 13
  • Blog
  • About Us

Northern California Bankruptcy Lawyer

On The Bankruptcy Soapbox

The Soap Box
  • How bankruptcy works
  • Mortgage Matters
  • Consumer Rights
  • Newsworthy
  • You & Your Lawyer
  • Small Business
  • Family Law

What’s After Forbearance

By Cathy Moran

mortgage forbearance

Last spring, the CARES Act entitled everyone with a federally backed home mortgage to a forbearance of 6 months, extendible for another 6 months. 15 USC 9056. The end of the mandated forbearances is approaching for many. But the law provides no clue as to what comes after forbearance. Fannie Mae (the Federal National Mortgage […]

Filed Under: Real property & mortgages

When You Can’t Pay Your Bills Because Of The Virus

By Cathy Moran

virus and money

The coronavirus has us locked at home where the  worry demons play unrestrained in our heads. Money troubles cause us worry, in “good” times.  These are hardly good times. As more and more of us are hit with shelter-in-place orders that keep us from work and our kids from school, we have even more time […]

Filed Under: Featured Tagged With: 2020, coronavirus

Chapter 13: Know Who Gets Paid First Under Your Plan

By Cathy Moran

Who gets paid in Chapter 13, and in what order, makes a huge different when charting your course. Sometimes, we must realize that reality exists outside of television shows. And when real-world reality hits some debtors, it’s a trainwreck. It comes up for me when Chapter 13 clients and I sit down to write the […]

Filed Under: Chapter 13, How bankruptcy works

How To Pay For Bankruptcy When You’re Flat Broke

By Cathy Moran

paying for bankruptcy

One of the cosmic ironies of our legal system is that it costs money to file bankruptcy. Bankruptcy gets you out of debt only if you have the money to file. The costs of bankruptcy include the filing fee collected by the court; the required credit counseling; and, if you’re smart, an experienced lawyer to […]

Filed Under: How bankruptcy works

California’s Good Deed: Passing Real Property At Death

By Cathy Moran

property upon death

The horror stories about do-it-yourself estate planning are both plentiful and tragic. Between the fear of probate and the fear of legal fees, inventive people invent inexpensive strategies for passing property to the next generation. Adding someone to the deed is the most common one I see. It works like this: in order to see […]

Filed Under: Strictly California Tagged With: 2017

Pay No Tax On Discharged Debt

By Cathy Moran

discharged debt

Debt discharged in bankruptcy is tax free, even if you get a 1099 claiming otherwise. It’s unnerving when you get a 1099 after you thought the debt, and all its complications were gone. But for bankruptcy clients, the answer is simple: Debt discharged in bankruptcy is not taxable. Tax on cancelled debt The tax code […]

Filed Under: Featured, Taxes

How To Pick A Bankruptcy Lawyer

By Cathy Moran

interview a bankruptcy lawyer

How do you pick a bankruptcy lawyer when you’ve never hired any lawyer and never before considered filing bankruptcy? What do you ask a bankruptcy lawyer to determine if the lawyer is the right one for you? After all, the conversation has to move beyond “what does bankruptcy cost?” Financial troubles are tough and bankruptcy […]

Filed Under: Featured, You & your lawyer Tagged With: 2016

Life And Death of Debt In California

By Cathy Moran

statute of limitations on debt

CPR has its place when human life is involved. Human life is precious. But when what’s dying is the legal right to collect a debt?   Not so fast. You don’t want to breathe new life into an old debt that is legally dead. Yet you can do that, unintentionally reviving a debt that is legally […]

Filed Under: Strictly California Tagged With: 2018

Scofflaws Must Pay When They Violate The Stay

By Cathy Moran

Debtors in bankruptcy got back the right to collect all of their damages for violations of the automatic stay when the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals en banc overturned the Sternberg case. We conclude that Sternberg misconstrued the plain meaning of §362(k). To the extent it is inconsistent with this opinion, Sternberg is overruled. I thought […]

Filed Under: How bankruptcy works

Bankruptcy Questions Have Few Quick Answers

By Cathy Moran

The caller to my law office kept telling my assistant: I just want to ask  Cathy a question. To which my assistant replied:  you need to first fill out our questionnaire and make an appointment. But I don’t want a meeting, I just want to ask a question. At which point, both sides of the […]

Filed Under: Consumer Rights, You & your lawyer Tagged With: 2020

  • « Previous Page
  • 1
  • …
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
  • 6
  • 7
  • …
  • 75
  • Next Page »
Coronavirus & Your Finances

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 on how I think law should work for the consumer and small businesses when it comes to debt.

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

How Bankruptcy Works

The Biggest Lie About Bankruptcy

Read anything about Chapter 7 and you get, "Your possessions are sold in Chapter 7 bankruptcy." That is, flat out, the biggest lie about bankruptcy. It's a liquidation proceeding and your stuff will be sold to pay creditors, the lie goes on. No wonder people are scared off from getting relief from debts … Read more

More Posts from this Category

643 Bair Island Road
Suite 403
Redwood City, CA 94063
Phone: (650) 694-4700

Categories

All content copyright © Moran Law Group. All rights reserved.