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

Northern California Bankruptcy Lawyer

On The Bankruptcy Soapbox

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

California’s New Exemptions For Money In The Bank

By Cathy Moran

california cash exemptions\

California has finally created a state law exemption for cash in the bank. Californians filing bankruptcy no longer face loss of all the funds in their bank accounts when they choose California’s generous homestead, thanks to changes in exemption law. Two exemption statutes , new in 2020 , provide protection for cash in the bank […]

Filed Under: Strictly California Tagged With: 2021, California, exemptions

How Much Is My Chapter 13 Payment

By Cathy Moran

chapter 13 payment

Intrigued by Chapter 13, but worried about how much your Chapter 13 payment might be? OK, let’s walk through what your payment must be by law and what you want that payment to cover to get a fresh start. Part of the power of Chapter 13 is that you write the plan, with the help […]

Filed Under: Chapter 13, How bankruptcy works Tagged With: how much, plan payment

Personal Assets Can Be At Risk For Your Business Debts

By Cathy Moran

business debts

Business debt can bleed over into an entrepreneur’s personal assets.  Hearing me say that, my client was dumbfounded. He was aghast that the generous equity in the home he and his wife owned was at risk when his corporate business folded. That was not because the shareholder is liable for the corporation’s debts.  A properly […]

Filed Under: Consumer Rights, Small business, True Stories Tagged With: 2017

The Bankruptcy Problem Your Lawyer Can’t Fix

By Cathy Moran

what to tell lawyer

Everyone considering bankruptcy faces the question of what to tell their lawyer. Sometimes  it’s a problem you don’t want to face yourself, or a debt your spouse doesn’t know about. The problem even the best bankruptcy lawyer can’t fix is the one you hide. Maybe it’s a claim you hope to bring after the bankruptcy. You’re […]

Filed Under: Featured, You & your lawyer Tagged With: disclosure, secrets

Who Gets To Skip Bankruptcy’s Means Test Entirely?

By Cathy Moran

skip means test

The couple in my office was despondent when another bankruptcy attorney told them that, despite $100,000 in old taxes, they couldn’t file Chapter 7. This fine fellow told them that the means test showed they had $3000 of disposable income per month.  A Chapter 7 would be an abuse of  bankruptcy under the law. Only […]

Filed Under: How bankruptcy works, Means test Tagged With: 2019, means test

DYI Bankruptcy Did Him In

By Cathy Moran

For a layman filing a bankruptcy without a lawyer, he didn’t do too badly. He got credit counseling and filed the certificate. He completed the schedules fairly well. He even filed a pro se adversary proceeding to enforce the automatic stay when the foreclosure on a multi million dollar property went forward despite the bankruptcy. […]

Filed Under: Consumer Rights, True Stories, You & your lawyer

10 Must-Know Things About Money Judgments

By Cathy Moran

judgment at law

What does it mean when a money judgment is entered against you in a lawsuit? It’s not the end of the world, but it has serious financial repercussions. Here are 10 critical things you need to know about legal judgments. More What to do when you’ve been sued Fighting a wage garnishment Protecting your assets […]

Filed Under: Consumer Rights

7 Keys To Keeping Your House: Chapter 13 After You File

By Cathy Moran

keep the house

You filed filed Chapter 13 bankruptcy to keep your house and stop the foreclosure.  You’ve protected your home, for the moment. Bankruptcy gets you a sheltered legal environment to address the problems with your mortgage. You heave a sigh of relief. But the fight to keep your house isn’t over, just because there’s a stay.  […]

Filed Under: Chapter 13, Real property & mortgages Tagged With: 2019, chapter 13, keep the house

Don’t Let Your Bank Pick Your Pocket

By Cathy Moran

The right of your bank to take your money when you aren’t looking stops at your credit card. Your bank may be entitled by common law to setoff what it owes you from what you owe it on the garden variety debt. But the federal Fair Credit Billing Act  forbids a bank who has issued you a […]

Filed Under: Consumer Rights Tagged With: 2015, credit card

Debt Actually Makes You Stupid

By Cathy Moran

It’s easy to tell ourselves that getting into debt was stupid. Maybe, maybe not. Lots of debt happens without making bad decisions.  Think of medical bills. Natural disasters.  Divorce. But regardless of how you got in debt, there’s more bad news. Just being in debt makes you stupid. Stupid, as in, your IQ goes down […]

Filed Under: Considering Bankruptcy, Featured

  • « Previous Page
  • 1
  • …
  • 6
  • 7
  • 8
  • 9
  • 10
  • …
  • 69
  • Next Page »
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

More Posts from this Category

643 Bair Island Road
Suite 403
Redwood City, CA 94063
Phone: (650) 694-4700
Phone: (650) 368-4700

Categories

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