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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

Bail Yourself Out Of Payroll Tax Trouble

By Cathy Moran

Business owners with unpaid payroll taxes are in deep trouble. Even if the employer is a corporation, the corporation’s managers are personally liable for the trust fund portion of unpaid payroll taxes. There’s no corporate shield when it comes to payroll taxes. You are in the IRS’s cross hairs, personally, if the business hands out “net” checks […]

Filed Under: Consumer Rights, Small business, Taxes Tagged With: 2016

What Should Bankruptcy Cost?

By Cathy Moran

pay for bankruptcy

Pick a cheap bankruptcy lawyer and it could really cost you. We’re trained as consumers to find the lowest price for stuff we buy. But picking a lawyer is not the place for economy. But how can you know what a bankruptcy should cost when you’ve never hired a lawyer before and you don’t want […]

Filed Under: Consumer Rights, You & your lawyer Tagged With: bankruptcy lawyer

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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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