Your creditors can’t get your retirement savings. In bankruptcy or not, your creditors can’t take money from your formalized retirement savings. California state law and federal bankruptcy law protect your savings for retirement held in recognized retirement vehicles from levy or lien. But retirement savings are at risk. Look in the mirror. You are usually […]
Five Tax Tips For Two Cents
The tax filing deadline approaches. So why is a bankruptcy lawyer talking about taxes? I’ve found over three decades as a bankruptcy lawyer that there’s a surprising degree of overlap between bankruptcy and tax . All too often, it’s tax troubles that brings a family to me for help. Here’s my two cents on what […]
What Small Business Needs From Government
This post was first published 10 years ago, in the midst of the Great Recession. I continue to think about the real challenges of running a small business and the balance needed between simplicity for the business owner and protections for the public. More below. Senator McCain this morning on Meet the Press reprised […]
The Trouble With Your Social Security
The caller says your Social Security file is incomplete and without more information, your assets, as well as your benefits, will be frozen. Pretty terrifying if you depend on Social Security checks. Only, it’s not true. The caller isn’t from Social Security. Social Security can’t freeze your assets. Social Security doesn’t do business by phone. […]
Bankruptcy No Place For DIY
The do- it- yourself spirit seems especially strong in bankruptcy courts these days. Only it often comes with a big price tag. Nearly 45% of the Central District CA Chapter 7 cases were filed by individuals doing it themselves. The national rules committee drafted the new bankruptcy forms with the unrepresented in mind. Why do people […]
The One Person You Must Tell About Your Bankruptcy
Most people who file bankruptcy don’t want anyone else to know. Some of my clients try to hide their break for financial freedom from friends and neighbors. Others are worried about their boss finding out. Occasionally, someone will try to keep it from their mate. But trying to hide his bankruptcy nearly cost one client […]
What Mythbusters Star Says About Money Troubles
Look at the big picture. That was the point Adam Savage of the TV show Mythbusters made as the speaker at my son’s graduation as a mechanical engineer. He was talking about using engineering skills after college. But, it struck me as equally applicable to my audience of the indebted as it was to his audience of newly fledged engineers. […]
Business Bankruptcy Depends On Who You Are
While knowing who you are may be central to philosophy and mental health, you wouldn’t think it poses a difficult question in a business bankruptcy. You wouldn’t think the word “you” would be so challenging. Yet, small business owners find it hard to separate themselves from the business, even when that business is incorporated. After […]
The Flat Wrong 1099
When her soon-to-be-ex filed bankruptcy, my client got a 1099-C for the joint credit card. The form claimed that the debt was cancelled. Therefore, she had additional income equal to the card balance. Only, none of the statements on the 1099 were true. The debt wasn’t discharged as to the non filing spouse. One spouse’s […]
Is Your Choice Of Bankruptcy Chapters Really Dictated By Your Stuff?
Through my Twitter feed came a link to the pro’s and con’s of filing bankruptcy from the business section of the Chicago Tribune. Good chance to see how non lawyers see my world, I thought. Bankruptcy was all about protecting “stuff”, said the writer, and the choice of chapters is driven by the kind of […]
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