• Home
  • Bankruptcy in Brief
  • ABC’s of Bankruptcy
  • Considering Bankruptcy
  • True Stories
  • Chapter 13
  • Blog
  • About
  • TOC

Northern California Bankruptcy Lawyer

On The Bankruptcy Soapbox

The Soap Box
  • How bankruptcy works
  • Mortgage Matters
  • Consumer Rights
  • You & Your Lawyer
  • Small Business
  • Family Law

Real-world Values for Assets Critical in Bankruptcy World

By Cathy Moran

asset value

Valuing your assets when filing out your bankruptcy schedules can be challenging. After all, what is a closetful of clothes or a garage full of tools worth? You are tempted to ask: why does it matter? Asset value matters in several different contexts in a bankruptcy case. Using the wrong measure of value or over-estimating […]

Filed Under: Consumer Rights

What You Can Do With Money Before Filing Bankruptcy

By Cathy Moran

spending before bankruptcy examined

Worried that a bankruptcy judge or trustee is going to scour your spending before bankruptcy, looking for behavior that would disqualify you from bankruptcy relief. It’s not so. Yet there seems to be real anguish that “they” are going to toss your case out of bankruptcy court because of some “fault” in how you’ve handled […]

Filed Under: Consumer Rights

Will I Get a Discharge in My Bankruptcy Case

By Cathy Moran

bankruptcy discharge

Getting a bankruptcy discharge is what almost all cases are about. So the question of whether or not you’ll get a discharge looms large in Chapter 7. The short answer is that if you are eligible for a discharge, you’re almost certain to get a discharge. Eligibility, in this context, looks at whether you’ve gotten […]

Filed Under: Consumer Rights Tagged With: 2023

At Risk of Repossession? How To Keep The Car & Pay Less

By Cathy Moran

car repossession

If you are one of the  7 million Americans late on your car payments and living in fear that your car will be repossessed, consider how Chapter 13 bankruptcy can save your wheels. Losing your car can accelerate a torrent of nasty financial consequences. No car, no way to work. No work, no income. So, […]

Filed Under: Chapter 13, Consumer Rights Tagged With: 2019, car loan, Chapter 13 car, Repossession

Don’t Tidy Up Before Seeing A Bankruptcy Lawyer

By Cathy Moran

before bankruptcy

Don’t tidy up your financial affairs before consulting a bankruptcy lawyer to plan for bankruptcy. Your current mess may present opportunities to plan your case for a better outcome. You may waste money or lose bankruptcy options when you make last minute changes to your situation without understanding how that situation plays out in bankruptcy. […]

Filed Under: Considering Bankruptcy, Consumer Rights Tagged With: plan bankruptcy

Can Your Creditor Get A Lien On You?

By Cathy Moran

Can “they” put a lien on me? If you have debts you can’t pay, that’s a critical question. The man sitting across the desk from me owed a fistful of taxes.  He proposed to transfer his interest in the family home to save the house from the tax lien which was filed against him. He […]

Filed Under: Consumer Rights Tagged With: liens

The Real Importance of Your Credit Score

By Cathy Moran

Questions about the real importance of credit scores

Getting credit after bankruptcy is the most frequent search term that bring visitors to Bankruptcy in Brief, my encyclopedic sister site on bankruptcy. In these visitors’ minds, the impact of bankruptcy on their credit score is critical. It’s ironic that readers, saddled with enough debt to consider bankruptcy, worry about their credit score. After all, […]

Filed Under: Considering Bankruptcy, Consumer Rights Tagged With: credit score

How To Pick A Bankruptcy Lawyer

By Cathy Moran

interview a bankruptcy lawyer

How do you pick a bankruptcy lawyer when you’ve never hired any lawyer and never before considered filing bankruptcy? What do you ask a bankruptcy lawyer to determine if the lawyer is the right one for you? After all, the conversation has to move beyond “what does bankruptcy cost?” Financial troubles are tough and bankruptcy […]

Filed Under: Consumer Rights, You & your lawyer Tagged With: 2016, choose a lawyer, find a lawyer, pick a lawyer

Client “wants to think” before getting good bankruptcy information

By Cathy Moran

considering bankruptcy

The caller with a pending foreclosure sale called and canceled an initial consultation with me last week.   He wanted to “think about it” before coming in.  Huh? Think about being homeless? Think about the cost of getting relief through bankruptcy? Think about confronting a dire situation? It was almost as if gathering information about options […]

Filed Under: Considering Bankruptcy, Consumer Rights, True Stories

Debt settlement: how it really works

By Cathy Moran

Debt settlement companies thrive on tapping the consumer’s genuine desire to pay back their debts. They don’t tell you how debt settlement works, in reality. They promise that they will compromise with your creditors for a sizable discount and all will be well with the world. There are any number of reasons that isn’t so, […]

Filed Under: Consumer Rights, Debt Collection Rights, True Stories

  • « Previous Page
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
  • 6
  • …
  • 20
  • Next Page »
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

Bankruptcy Alphabet: F is for First

In my Bankruptcy Alphabet, F is for First meeting of creditors. Lots of rumors exist about the that meeting; it produces unwarranted anxiety that is avoidable if you understand what's up. Let's check it out. The first meeting of creditors, also called the 341 meeting, is often the only time a debtor has to appear … Read more

More Posts from this Category

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

Categories

All content copyright © Moran Law Group. All rights reserved.