Got your bankruptcy discharge recently? The end of the bankruptcy case is the start of your new financial life. Now, you’ve got work to do to maximize that fresh start. Save your bankruptcy papers The bankruptcy schedules listed everyone you owed money to when you filed. Those creditors got notice of your case. The […]
What Asset of Failed Business Is Most Valuable?
Usually I rant about mistakes clients made when they incorporated their ongoing business. Come hard times for the business, those mistakes eat into our options for the owners survival when the corporation goes down. Invariably, the vendor accounts remain in the name of the proprietor, the stock may not have been issued, and it’s unclear whether there was an […]
Why I Hate Credit Reporting Agencies
If you have a couple of hours, I’ll count the ways. But this morning, it’s half truths and moralizing by Experian that gets me going. My fellow California bankruptcy lawyer Jay Fleischman published Experian’s explanation of how long your bankruptcy filing stays on your credit record. Chapter 13 bankruptcy is deleted seven years from the […]
Bankruptcy Alphabet: L is for Life
In my bankruptcy alphabet, L is for the Life you can get back when you get rid of your debts. My bankruptcy clients are often simply consumed by managing their debts. There is no room for rest, savings, dreaming. Life has become the struggle to make the next round of payments. L could also be […]
Last Call For Loan Modifications Under HAMP
If your house is teetering on the edge of foreclosure, the time to act has a deadline. HAMP, the government program incentivizing home loan modifications, ends in 2016. To qualify for HAMP, you must submit a complete Initial Application Package by December 30, 2016. That package must include: A RMA form which includes a required hardship […]
How To Spot A Fake IRS Officer
Identity thieves are now posing as “helpful” folks from the IRS. These scammers email you with the disturbing news that your tax return has been flagged for further examination. Posing as representing the IRS Taxpayer Advocate Service, they offer help in “resolving” the problem, if you’ll just click a link and provide them information. They […]
Staying Out Of Bankruptcy Trustee’s Crosshairs
Clients who want the benefits of bankruptcy without any change in the way they want to live life have been the theme of my practice lately. This seems to come out when we do a Schedule J budget in a Chapter 13: they want $300/month in recreation, $1400 in food, and $300 in clothing. While […]
Your Rights When Your Home Is Foreclosed
The foreclosure sale is over and the bank now owns the home. You’re now living in someone else’s property. What next? If you were the homeowner in California, here are your choices after the foreclosure: Your rights before the foreclosure sale
Social Security Safe In Bankruptcy
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 […]
Melania Trump Sold The American Dream Short
The infamous Melania Trump speech at the Republican convention shared more than a paragraph or so with Michelle Obama. It shared Michelle’s aspirational thought that in America, any child with hard work and perseverance can succeed. “The only limit to your achievements is the strength of your dreams and your willingness to work hard for […]
