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Bankruptcy Alphabet: S is for Strip

By Cathy Moran

S is for Strip in my bankruptcy alphabet

S is for Strip in my Bankruptcy Alphabet.  Bankruptcy lawyers delight in stripping liens from people’s homes. In any chapter of bankruptcy, a debtor can void judgment liens that have attached to assets that would otherwise be exempt. In Chapter 13, tax liens and other statutory liens can be stripped off the asset if there […]

Filed Under: ABC's of bankruptcy, How bankruptcy works, Real property & mortgages

How To Spot A Fake IRS Officer

By Cathy Moran

Identity thieves are now posing as “helpful” folks from the IRS. These scammers email you with the disturbing news that your tax return has been flagged for further examination. Posing as representing the IRS Taxpayer Advocate Service, they offer help in “resolving” the problem, if you’ll just click a link and provide them information. They […]

Filed Under: Consumer Rights, Taxes

Keep Your Tax Refund Despite Filing Bankruptcy

By Cathy Moran

Bankruptcy and your tax return

Usually, we’re touting pre bankruptcy planning:  know what’s exempt, what debts will survive bankruptcy, and arrange your affairs to lose as little as possible to a bankruptcy trustee. There’s one bit of tax and bankruptcy planning that you can do after you file bankruptcy.  That’s despite the fact that bankruptcy is generally a snapshot of […]

Filed Under: How bankruptcy works

Why The Gap Between Judges & Attorneys Over Fees?

By Cathy Moran

attorneys fees in Chapter 13

Very few bankruptcy judges ever represented average individuals in bankruptcy before they became judges. Fewer were sole practitioners,who must rely on the fees they earn and collect to stay in business. Those two factors seem to create the chasm between bench and bar over attorneys fees in consumer bankruptcy cases. This post starts from the […]

Filed Under: Featured Tagged With: 2016

The Dr. Seuss Secret To Laws That Actually Work

By Cathy Moran

Empty voting booths

The election  is here.  If you haven’t already, get out and vote. Put aside your excuses and your cynicism. Forget that democracy, at the detail level, hasn’t worked so well lately. In the big picture, voting, picking those who write the laws and those who administer them, is the essence of our freedom. Winston Churchill […]

Filed Under: Featured Tagged With: election

Staying Out Of Bankruptcy Trustee’s Crosshairs

By Cathy Moran

Clients who want the benefits of bankruptcy without any change in the way they want to live life have been the theme of my practice lately. This seems to come out when we do a Schedule J budget in a Chapter 13:  they want $300/month in recreation, $1400 in food, and $300 in clothing. While […]

Filed Under: Consumer Rights

The DOJ War On Chapter 13 Debtors

By Cathy Moran

Chapter 13 trustee

What’s wrong with the picture when United States Trustee is offended by Chapter 13 success? I heard a distressing story about the war against debtors recently. It seems a high rate of successful Chapter 13 plan completions triggered multi-day audit of the trustee by the United States Trustee.  The UST likes to remind us that it […]

Filed Under: Featured Tagged With: 2016

Your Rights When Your Home Is Foreclosed

By Cathy Moran

The foreclosure sale is over and the bank now owns the home. You’re now living in someone else’s property. What next? If you were the homeowner in California, here are your choices after the foreclosure: Your rights before the foreclosure sale

Filed Under: Consumer Rights, Real property & mortgages Tagged With: 2016

Foreclosure Looms But The Bank’s Numbers Don’t Add Up

By Cathy Moran

The bank wants to foreclose on my client’s home. They claim he’s months behind. Only the numbers in their relief from stay papers filed in the bankruptcy don’t add up. The mortgage balance is one thing here, and other thing there. They file a declaration under penalty of perjury saying they have the note, followed within […]

Filed Under: Featured, Real property & mortgages Tagged With: 2016

Free Expert Help With Your Bay Area Home Loan Modification

By Cathy Moran

Applying for a mortgage modification is equal parts torture and miracle drug. It can mean the difference between staying in your home and foreclosure. Yet it comes with more questions than answers. What’s the difference between HAMP and HARP? Do I want to appear broke or prosperous? Should I default before I apply? Critical questions, the […]

Filed Under: Real property & mortgages, Strictly California

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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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