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How One Family Settled Huge Debt For Pennies

By Cathy Moran

debt settlement

When he started the Chapter 13 trek, he owed $370,000 in personal loans and credit cards. As he completes his plan, he will have settled that debt for three cents on the dollar. No tax is due on the forgiven debt and no listed creditor can legally come back to try to collect the difference. […]

Filed Under: Chapter 13, Featured, True Stories Tagged With: 2018

4 Keys To Chapter 13 Success

By Cathy Moran

successful Chapter 13

How do I make a Chapter 13 plan that succeeds? That’s important because a successful Chapter 13 lets you keep your assets, keep control of your income, and discharge more debts than any other form of bankruptcy. Yet a distressing number of Chapter 13’s fail before they reach the finish line. Debtor writes the plan […]

Filed Under: Chapter 13, How bankruptcy works Tagged With: 2017

3 Real Reasons Chapter 13 Plans Fail

By Cathy Moran

chapter 13 success

  Two out of three confirmed Chapter 13 cases fail.  Those are cases that met all the tests and got the judge’s OK. And still they crater. That’s a heap of people, deeply in debt, who don’t make it out of debt by using Chapter 13. Arizona bankruptcy lawyer John Skiba has a theory about […]

Filed Under: Chapter 13, Consumer Rights

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

Social Security Safe In Bankruptcy

By Cathy Moran

The Chapter 13 trustee objected to the debtors’ repayment plan because they did not plan to devote their Social Security income to repaying creditors.   And, he complained, they proposed to keep and pay for vehicles that are luxury items. The plan is not proposed in good faith, he claimed, as required by the Bankruptcy Code. The […]

Filed Under: Chapter 13, Consumer Rights

Not Too Late To Strip Mortgage Lien

By Cathy Moran

Strip mortgage liens

It’s never too late to value a lien and avoid it in bankruptcy. Even after the Chapter 13 case is done and closed. So says the 9th Circuit Bankruptcy Appellate Panel in Chagolla, decided February 9, 2016. In the absence of prejudicial delay, we find that a motion to value and avoid the lien of a junior […]

Filed Under: Chapter 13, Featured Tagged With: 2016

Who Gets To Choose Your Bankruptcy Chapter?

By Cathy Moran

Does someone other than the debtor get to choose which chapter a bankruptcy case is filed under? Some seem to think so. There’s an ongoing tug of war in the courts between the bankruptcy establishment on one side and debtors and their lawyers on the other about whether a Chapter 13 that pays only the attorneys […]

Filed Under: Chapter 13, Featured Tagged With: 2016

Tugging On Superman’s Cape

By Cathy Moran

When a Chapter 13 trustee complains that the means test is not easy to administer when only one spouse files, should I be sympathetic? After all, Chapter 13 confirmation is often a negotiation on disputed issues between the trustee and debtor’s counsel. Here’s what I said recently at ConsiderChapter13.org on that issue. Come on, Madame […]

Filed Under: Chapter 13, How bankruptcy works

Claim Tax Deductions Lurking In Your Chapter 13

By Cathy Moran

  Tax deductions may be hiding in your Chapter 13. Did you file for an extension of time to file your income tax return? Well, time to get the return done is running out:  returns are due October 15th. If you are in a Chapter 13 bankruptcy case, you may have deductions you haven’t considered […]

Filed Under: Chapter 13, Managing Money, Taxes

Why Creditors Should Get Less in Chapter 13

By Cathy Moran

saving in Chapter 13

Spending every dollar they make, and then some, is often how our Chapter 13 clients got into financial trouble. Yet Chapter 13, as practiced, validates the practice of continuing to spend 100% of each month’s income during the life of the plan. In doing so, we, as a society, squander the chance to use Chapter […]

Filed Under: Chapter 13, Consumer Rights, Pondering

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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

When Can I File Bankruptcy Again

Remember the old high school cheer:  two, four, six, eight, who do we appreciate? Turns out, that's not just a cheer, it's shorthand for the rule on when you can file bankruptcy again. And it points out that when you can file again depends on what kind of bankruptcy you filed last time. Here's how it … Read more

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