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Why Keep Bankruptcy Off Your Credit Record

By Cathy Moran

We’ll help you do your own bankruptcy, promises the ad. And for a few dollars more, we’ll sell you the secret to keep your bankruptcy off your credit record. That pitch plays neatly into the obsession that we have about our credit reports.  Even when your financial world is upside down. But this pitch has it […]

Filed Under: Consumer Rights Tagged With: 2018

We’re Now In Redwood City

By Cathy Moran

Moran Law Group

Moran Law Group has packed up and moved to Redwood City! Effective October 1, 2018, Cathy and Renee are holding forth at 643 Bair Island Road, Suite 403, Redwood City.  Our phone number and email addresses are the same. We’re sharing our San Mateo county office with two good friends and marvelous bankruptcy lawyers, Jeff […]

Filed Under: Consumer Rights Tagged With: 2018

If The IRS Comes Calling After Your Bankruptcy Discharge

By Cathy Moran

tax after bankruptcy

It’s scary, or infuriating, when the IRS continues to try to collect taxes discharged in bankruptcy. What was the point of filing bankruptcy if the government ignores your discharge? Yet IRS attempts to collect taxes from people with a bankruptcy discharge form the single largest group of cases in my law office today. Why the […]

Filed Under: Consumer Rights, Taxes Tagged With: 2018

Divorce And The Ticking Debt Bomb

By Cathy Moran

Debts of the marriage often outlive the marriage itself. And, those left-over debts are nothing but trouble. But too often, divorcing couples don’t mop up the joint debts they held during the marriage, only to have the situation blows up years later when one ex-spouse hits financial trouble. Here’s a true story that illustrates the danger. […]

Filed Under: Consumer Rights, Family Law, True Stories

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

Second Best Reason To Contribute To Retirement Fund Even If You’re In Debt

By Cathy Moran

retirement savings in bankruptcy

We’re not used to applauding those who are second-best.  But I’m going to try. The second-best reason to make regular contributions to your IRA or 401(k) is that even if you file bankruptcy you can continue saving for retirement. Whooo hooo! Courts have struggled with whether payments into retirement plans are reasonable and necessary living […]

Filed Under: Consumer Rights Tagged With: 2018

Surefire Ways To Tell Scammers From Private Tax Collectors

By Cathy Moran

tax collector

Private debt collectors are going back to work for the IRS.   You know those debt collectors:  the ones that generated the most complaints to the FTC this year? The ones that get a cut of what they collect?  The ones that aren’t subject to the same discipline as IRS employee? Those collectors. They’ll be […]

Filed Under: Consumer Rights Tagged With: 2016

Spot Credit Report Errors After Your Bankruptcy & Fix Them

By Mike Cardoza

credit report

Your debts have been discharged in Bankruptcy. Congratulations! But if those debts still appear on your credit report, you haven’t gotten all the debt relief you are entitled to. Your credit report is the public face of your finances. It’s the thing that lenders, landlords, and life insurance companies look at to figure out whether […]

Filed Under: Consumer Rights Tagged With: 2018

Don’t Get Fleeced At The Car Dealership: Tips On Buying A Car

By Cathy Moran

car buyers get fleeced

Getting fleeced at the car dealership is all too common. The ways to get taken, bamboozled, oversold, and generally ripped off are too numerous to count. But the good folks at NCLC have studied the car-buying extras and add-ons that pad the price of the car.  The mark up on add-ons can be huge. Add-ons, […]

Filed Under: Consumer Rights Tagged With: 2017

Taxes: Building Block of Financial Literacy

By Cathy Moran

financial literacy building blocks

You’re a first time employee.  Congratulations. Welcome to the world of tax forms, withholding, and tax deadlines.   Taxes are the price we pay for civilization, according to Oliver Wendell Holmes. In fact, the first day on your new job you’ll be presented with an IRS form w-4. It’s like a rite of passage into adulthood. Even families […]

Filed Under: Consumer Rights, Taxes Tagged With: 2016

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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

Everyone gets $1M + bankruptcy exemption

Bankruptcy exemptions vary from state to state, but everyone gets an exemption of ~$1.75 M for money in an IRA. It's part of the Bankruptcy Code (section 522(n)) that applies to all filers, wherever they live. The exemption covers both classic, before-tax IRA's and Roth IRA's that are funded with after-tax dollars. … Read more

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643 Bair Island Road
Suite 403
Redwood City, CA 94063
Phone: (650) 694-4700
Phone: (650) 368-4700

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