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 […]
New CA Foreclosure Law Can Save Your Equity
California homeowners have new, powerful rights to stop a foreclosure sale and sell their homes themselves. The new law became effective January 1, 2025. When you’re faced with a foreclosure sale date and a Chapter 13 bankruptcy case won’t work, the CA legislature has created an opportunity for you to put off the foreclosure so […]
What looks bad to the trustee in prebankruptcy conduct
Wondering what bankrutpcy trustees look for when they ask for bank statements and question you at the 341 meeting? Worried that a bankruptcy trustee will examine your situation and somehow disqualify you from bankruptcy because of something you did (or didn’t do) right before you filed? Not to worry. Your bankruptcy discharge does not depend […]
What’s The Income Limit for Filing Bankruptcy
Actually, there’s no income limit for filing bankruptcy. None, nada, no way. Instead, there’s the infamous means test, an awkward and complex formula, written by Congress, to identify individuals who are entitled to file Chapter 7. Not everyone has to take the means test. The means test doesn’s apply to individuals whose debt is primarily […]
Bankruptcy Is Not Your Last Resort
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 […]
Debt settlement: how it really works
Debt settlement companies thrive on tapping the consumer’s genuine desire to pay back their debts. They don’t tell you how debt settlement works, in reality. They promise that they will compromise with your creditors for a sizable discount and all will be well with the world. There are any number of reasons that isn’t so, […]
The Real Importance of Your Credit Score
Getting credit after bankruptcy is the most frequent search term that bring visitors to Bankruptcy in Brief, my encyclopedic sister site on bankruptcy. In these visitors’ minds, the impact of bankruptcy on their credit score is critical. It’s ironic that readers, saddled with enough debt to consider bankruptcy, worrymost about their credit score. After all, […]
Separate Finances Didn’t Protect Spouse From Financial Disaster
By keeping separate finances, this California couple thought they had insulated the wife from the financial woes of her entrepreneur husband. They didn’t share bank accounts nor credit cards while she carefully kept her distance from his business dealings. Her name was not on anything tied to his business. But “separate” isn’t enough to overcome […]
Is Home Equity A Substitute For Retirement Savings
My home is my retirement plan. If I had a dollar for every time a client said that, I could retire today. But that approach to funding your old age only works if…. Sell your house to retire The value in your house makes your balance sheet strong, but doesn’t put food on the table […]
Do I qualify for bankruptcy in the Bay Area?
The higher-than-average wages in the Bay Area don’t disqualify you from bankruptcy, despite rampant misinformation about the bankruptcy means test. The means test, added to bankruptcy law in 2005, was (poorly) designed to keep above-average earners out of bankruptcy. But it hasn’t worked in the Bay Area, largely because of the cost of housing here. […]
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