• 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

Double Dipping On Retirement Savings

By Cathy Moran

double dip retirement

Any time you can double your retirement savings and protect your money from creditors is a good time of the year. The period between New Years and Tax Day is my favorite time of the year, just for that reason. You can make contributions to your IRA last year AND contribute to this year’s IRA […]

Filed Under: Consumer Rights Tagged With: 2018, exemptions, retirement, tax

Bankruptcy Busts Taxes If The Timing Is Right

By Cathy Moran

taxes dischargeable

Got unpaid taxes for 2019?  Three tax discharge timing rules control when those taxes can be wiped out in bankruptcy. On April 15, 2023 those taxes reached the end of the line as priority claims in bankruptcy.  Or, the magic date may be October 15, 2023, if you got an extension to file the return. […]

Filed Under: Consumer Rights, Taxes Tagged With: 2017, bankruptcy timing, discharge taxes

Has Your Social Security Number Been Suspended?

By Cathy Moran

social security scam

The latest variety of tax scam picked the wrong target when they called my fellow bankruptcy lawyer Wayne Silver. Your social security number has been suspended, claimed the caller. Having no identity is scary. What’s a guy to do without a Social Security number? It’s sad that we are reduced to needing a number to validate […]

Filed Under: Consumer Rights Tagged With: 2019, scams, social security

Co Signers Put Themselves In Creditor’s Crosshairs

By Cathy Moran

cosigner in crosshairs

The liability of a co signer is the single most common misunderstanding about the law that I see. Put bluntly, a co-signer is just as liable for the debt as the primary borrower. Co sign someone else’s debt and you put yourself in the creditor’s cross hairs. That should make the hair on the back […]

Filed Under: Consumer Rights Tagged With: 2016

All You Need To Know About Bankruptcy Stay & Pending Litigation

By Cathy Moran

bankruptcy during litigation

When a trial date looms, bankruptcy may look better and better to a defendant. Bankruptcy can be the emergency exit from a bad situation that is about to get worse. That’s because every bankruptcy case comes with an  automatic stay .  That’s  a federal court injunction automatically entered when a bankruptcy case is filed, protecting the […]

Filed Under: Consumer Rights Tagged With: automatic stay, lawsuit

Unicorns, Wookies, And Medical Bankruptcies

By Cathy Moran

What do Unicorns, Wookies, and Medical Bankruptcies  have in common? Each is a figment of our imagination. None of them exists in the real world. Medical bankruptcy does not exist, despite the suggestion in a recent FoxBusiness article, where the author talked about medical bankruptcy contrasted to personal bankruptcy. When it comes to medical bankruptcy, consumers […]

Filed Under: Consumer Rights

Cut Tax Penalties In Bankruptcy

By Cathy Moran

Get in tax trouble and the tax penalties often grow huge. What starts as a manageable problem can soon tower over you. Breathe deep;  there is a solution. Chapter 13 bankruptcy can cut tax penalties down to size. All tax penalties discharged in 13 Old or new, large or small, Chapter 13 discharges all unsecured […]

Filed Under: Chapter 13, Consumer Rights, Taxes Tagged With: tax penalties

How Does Your Household Budget Measure Up?

By Cathy Moran

The living expenses your paycheck has to cover go on and on. Each dollar is stretched;  each expense clamors for attention. Too often, the expenses go on long after the available money is gone. What seem like immediate needs squeeze out those necessities that only come round occasionally but in big numbers:  car repair, medical incidents, […]

Filed Under: Consumer Rights Tagged With: budget, cost of living, living expenses

The Worst Reason To Choose Debt Settlement Over Bankruptcy

By Cathy Moran

The guy with an old debt asked if bankruptcy or debt settlement would cause greater damage to his “credit”. The money advice columnist gave the right answer to the wrong question. She got it backwards. She advised that bankruptcy was more damaging given that the nagging debts were already three years old and would drop off his […]

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

Can You Spot The Signs Of A Collection Scam

By Cathy Moran

It’s pretty scary when a $300 payday loan turns into an investigation by the Federal Crimes Bureau. Not only was the recipient of the collection letter  below being  “investigated for crimes”,  his Social Security number would be suspended, and a court case initiated against him immediately. At great cost and embarrassment. Unless, of course, he sent the […]

Filed Under: Consumer Rights, Debt Collection Rights, True Stories Tagged With: jail for debt, scam

  • « Previous Page
  • 1
  • …
  • 5
  • 6
  • 7
  • 8
  • 9
  • …
  • 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

Cheat Sheet For Passing Bankruptcy Means Test

The bankruptcy means test has a fatal weakness in its attempt to keep people out of bankruptcy. Like so much recently, it's health care. It's health care, in the future, to be paid before your creditors get any money in your bankruptcy. It works because, in a logic that only Congress could employ, the means … 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.