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Tax Tips & Tidbits To Pay Less

By Cathy Moran

tax tool roundup

Tax filing deadline approaches, so I thought we’d gather up tax tips and little known tax strategies, especially useful if you’ve filed bankruptcy. The Tax Deduction No One Tells You About If you are paying mortgage interest, state taxes, back support, or business debt through a Chapter 13 plan, those payments made by the trustee […]

Filed Under: Consumer Rights, Taxes Tagged With: 2016

Is It Too Late For Bankruptcy?

By Cathy Moran Leave a Comment

file bankruptcy`

Worried that it’s too late to file bankruptcy? You’ve put off considering bankruptcy, hoping to tough it out, or hoping for a miracle. But at some point, time runs out:  you’ve been served with a lawsuit;  judgment has been entered against you; or even, a garnishment appears on your paycheck. Is it too late to […]

Filed Under: Considering Bankruptcy, Consumer Rights

Free Bankruptcy Advice: 5 Reasons Why I’m Not Free

By Cathy Moran

free bankruptcy consultation

There’s no free initial bankruptcy consultation in my office.  Unlike many, we charge for that initial meeting with a lawyer. (There’s no free lunch either.) That makes us different from lots of other bankruptcy lawyers. Different enough to offend a prospective client who called up this week.  He was unwilling to pay for a consultation, […]

Filed Under: Consumer Rights, You & your lawyer Tagged With: 2016

Can Your Business Survive The Pandemic?

By Cathy Moran

ailing business

When the virus shutdown is over, ailing businesses must consider whether to continue.

Filed Under: Consumer Rights, Small business Tagged With: 2020, covid-19

Bankruptcy Questions Have Few Quick Answers

By Cathy Moran

The caller to my law office kept telling my assistant: I just want to ask  Cathy a question. To which my assistant replied:  you need to first fill out our questionnaire and make an appointment. But I don’t want a meeting, I just want to ask a question. At which point, both sides of the […]

Filed Under: Consumer Rights, You & your lawyer Tagged With: 2020

Unfiled Tax Returns Are A Life Sentence

By Cathy Moran

unfiled tax returns yield life sentence

Unfiled tax returns upset all the normal rules about discharging taxes in bankruptcy. This story tells you why. Two clients, each with $200,000 in tax debt,  came to my office this week. One can escape it all now;  the other is facing several years before bankruptcy will do anything for him. What’s the difference? Filed […]

Filed Under: Consumer Rights, Taxes

Three Barriers To Getting Out Of Debt

By Cathy Moran

getting out of debt

Three emotions, not reasons, keep people from filing bankruptcy and getting out of debt. While not as sexy as the seven deadly sins,  these emotions still keep my clients mired in debt long after logic says “quit”. Fear Stubbornness Pride These emotions keep people mired where they are. They block the road forward. Fear Fear of […]

Filed Under: Consumer Rights Tagged With: 2016

Personal Assets Can Be At Risk For Your Business Debts

By Cathy Moran

business debts

Business debt can bleed over into an entrepreneur’s personal assets.  Hearing me say that, my client was dumbfounded. He was aghast that the generous equity in the home he and his wife owned was at risk when his corporate business folded. That was not because the shareholder is liable for the corporation’s debts.  A properly […]

Filed Under: Consumer Rights, Small business, True Stories Tagged With: 2017

What Is Really Scary About Debt Collectors

By Cathy Moran

Debt collectors as sharks?

When I tell a client to stop paying credit cards, they look at me as though I’d suggested they jump into shark infested waters. “But they’ll start calling me”, they wail. “I’ll be sent to collection“. In their mind, “collection” is a real place, with manacles dangling, barred windows, and water dripping down moldy dungeon walls. Turns […]

Filed Under: Consumer Rights, Managing Money

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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 on how I think law should work for the consumer and small businesses when it comes to debt.

Moran Law Group
Bankruptcy specialists for individuals and small businesses in the San Francisco Bay Area

How Bankruptcy Works

Bankruptcy Alphabet: E is for Exemptions

E stands for exemptions in my Bankruptcy Alphabet. Exemptions describe the possessions you get to keep when you file bankruptcy. E could also stand for Exception, since exemptions are the only place in bankruptcy law where the law is explicitly different from state to state. Exemptions vary The Bankruptcy Code … Read more

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