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Bankruptcy Alphabet: D is for Discharge

By Cathy Moran

bankruptcy discharge

“D” is for discharge in my bankruptcy alphabet. Getting a discharge of debts is the goal of most bankruptcies.  The discharge is the court order, issued at the conclusion of a case, that wipes out the filer’s personal liability for most debts that existed when he began the case. Not everything is discharged. The Bankruptcy […]

Filed Under: ABC's of bankruptcy, How bankruptcy works

Drive-in bankruptcy?

By Cathy Moran

We got a call about three o’clock the other afternoon from someone who wanted to come in that afternoon and file bankruptcy that day. When my partner hesitated, the caller responded, “Well , you are open now aren’t you?” I had a mental image of one of those parking lot, drive up coffee vendors, selling […]

Filed Under: How bankruptcy works, True Stories

Discharged Debts Don’t Bar Chapter 20 Lien Strip

By Cathy Moran

Underwater liens that linger after an earlier bankruptcy don’t count in Chapter 13. At least, they don’t count against the unsecured debt limit that restricts entry into Chapter 13, says the 9th Circuit Bankruptcy Appellate Panel in Free. Great news for homeowners for whom Chapter 13 was not initially available because they exceeded the debt limits. […]

Filed Under: Chapter 13, How bankruptcy works, Real property & mortgages

Four Essential Habits For Successful Entreprenuership

By Cathy Moran

Starting out in business for yourself?  Congratulations. Small business, and businesses that were once small, form the tapestry of our economy. I’ve run my own small business for coming 40 years and my favorite clients in my business are other small business people. But, in the euphoria and exhaustion of starting up, don’t put off doing […]

Filed Under: Small business

Couple Beats Big Banks Who Ignored Bankruptcy Discharge

By Cathy Moran

banks violate discharge

A couple of banks found out that it’s expensive to ignore the bankruptcy discharge. For a change, money will flow from banks to my clients.  Because even a bank can’t just do business as usual when their borrower files bankruptcy. Equally important, the judge recognized, in dollars, the emotional costs to debtors when their discharge is ignored. […]

Filed Under: Life after bankruptcy Tagged With: 2016

Bankruptcy Alphabet: Y is for Yoke

By Cathy Moran

  Y, in my Bankruptcy Alphabet, stands for Yoke. Debt is a yoke around the neck of a person.  It keeps him harnessed to the weight of past financial decisions and, sometimes, to events over which he had no control. There are times in life when the right course is to put your shoulder to […]

Filed Under: ABC's of bankruptcy, Featured

Your Home Is Not A Piggy Bank

By Cathy Moran

home isn't piggybank

Right before the Great Recession, lenders, main stream and fly-by-night,  urged us to “tap the equity in your home for what you want today”. California home values were rising.  Credit was easy.  And we always want something more, don’t we. We need to remember those days, because those sales pitches are back. Back on the radio and […]

Filed Under: Consumer Rights Tagged With: 2017

Essential Tasks After Bankruptcy To Maximize Your Fresh Start

By Cathy Moran

 Got your bankruptcy discharge recently?   The end of the bankruptcy case is the start of your new financial life. Now, you’ve got work to do to maximize that fresh start. Save your bankruptcy papers The bankruptcy schedules listed everyone you owed money to when you filed.  Those creditors got notice of your case. The […]

Filed Under: Consumer Rights, Life after bankruptcy

What Asset of Failed Business Is Most Valuable?

By Cathy Moran

Usually I rant about mistakes clients made when they incorporated their ongoing business. Come hard times for the business, those mistakes eat into our options for the owners survival when the corporation goes down. Invariably, the vendor accounts remain in the name of the proprietor, the stock may not have been issued, and it’s unclear whether there was an […]

Filed Under: Consumer Rights, Small business

Why I Hate Credit Reporting Agencies

By Cathy Moran

If you have a couple of hours, I’ll count the ways. But this morning, it’s half truths and moralizing by Experian that gets me going. My fellow California bankruptcy lawyer Jay Fleischman published Experian’s explanation of how long your bankruptcy filing stays on your credit record. Chapter 13 bankruptcy is deleted seven years from the […]

Filed Under: Consumer Rights, Life after bankruptcy

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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

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