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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

lurking tax deductions

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 16th in 2023. If you are in a Chapter 13 bankruptcy case, you may have deductions you haven’t […]

Filed Under: Chapter 13, 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

Lien Stripping Works Without A Bankruptcy Discharge

By Cathy Moran

The waiting and uncertainty is over.  The judges have decided. Chapter 13 debtors can void underwater junior liens even if they aren’t eligible for a bankruptcy discharge in the Chapter 13 case. So says the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in a case called Blendheim, decided October 1. And so, a myriad of Chapter 20 debtors […]

Filed Under: Chapter 13, Featured, Real property & mortgages

No Discharge Chapter 13 Effective To Strip Lien

By Cathy Moran

The wait is over; the decision is in. Homeowners in the 9th Circuit can strip off underwater mortgages in Chapter 13 cases even when they aren’t entitled to a bankruptcy discharge, the 9th Circuit BAP has held. Thus, courts have taken another step in the building consensus that the debtor doesn’t have to be eligible […]

Filed Under: Chapter 13

The Most Important Bankruptcy Decision Of 2013

By Cathy Moran

  A bankruptcy case nominally about  travel trailers, ATV’s, and a car for a an adult child gets my vote as the most important bankruptcy decision of 2013 for Californians. When the 9th Circuit decided Welsh, it told us, and Chapter 13 trustees, that you take your Chapter 13 debtors as you find them. If you […]

Filed Under: Chapter 13, How bankruptcy works

Chapter 13 debt limits double for couples

By Cathy Moran

Each debtor in a Chapter 13 was entitled to debts within the debt ceilings for Chapter 13 eligibility according to a recent bankruptcy decision out of Kansas called Dana Werts. That effectively doubled the amount of debt a married couple could have and still meet the debt limits of Chapter 13. [Since this decision, Chapter 13 […]

Filed Under: Chapter 13

Cash collateral in consumer cases

By Cathy Moran

What’s cash collateral, and why should you care? You care because there’s a whole set of  rules in bankruptcy to protect a creditor’s interest in cash collateral, and ugly consequences if you ignore those rules. But you don’t have to have a traditional business to have cash collateral, and the duties it brings, in a […]

Filed Under: Chapter 13, How bankruptcy works

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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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