• 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
  • Newsworthy
  • You & Your Lawyer
  • Small Business
  • Family Law

Dividing Debts At Divorce: What You Need To Know

By Cathy Moran

The division of the debts of a failed marriage, however carefully crafted at divorce, can be utterly destroyed if one of the former spouses files a Chapter 13 bankruptcy. A Chapter 13 discharge is double barreled.  It will eliminate the debts that the filing spouse owes to creditors.  It also wipes out any obligation to the […]

Filed Under: Consumer Rights, Family Law

Bankruptcy And Divorce Collide: The Threatened Filing

By Cathy Moran

My soon-to-be ex threatens to file a bankruptcy tomorrow and get me kicked out of the house. The frantic voice on the phone wanted to know whether he could do that in California. Or better, how he could be stopped from upsetting the pending divorce through the bankruptcy courts. Welcome to the volatile collision between bankruptcy and […]

Filed Under: Family Law, Featured Tagged With: variables

The Most Costly Community Property Blunder

By Cathy Moran

california property

What do you do when creditors from your spouse’s past threaten? Chances are your first reaction is to put the title to your biggest assets in just your name. Whew! Safe. Not. Just because  the deed to the house now reads Jane Doe instead of John Doe and Jane Doe it’s easy to think the house is Jane’s separate […]

Filed Under: Family Law, Strictly California

Separate Finances Doesn’t Protect Spouse From Financial Disaster

By Cathy Moran

By keeping separate finances, this California couple thought they had insulated the wife from the financial woes of her entrepreneur husband. They didn’t share bank accounts nor credit cards while she carefully kept her distance from his business dealings. Her name was not on anything tied to his business. But “separate” isn’t enough to overcome […]

Filed Under: Family Law, Strictly California Tagged With: 2021, community property

Family Lawyer’s Cheat Sheet to Bankruptcy

By Cathy Moran

family lawyer in bankruptcy

Here, in a nutshell, are bankruptcy basics for family lawyers. This isn’t everything you need to know to navigate a dissolution where one spouse files bankruptcy, or when marital debts suggest both spouses should file. It’s a start to a complex issue. You can get the basic introduction to concepts and terms operative in bankruptcy […]

Filed Under: Consumer Rights, Family Law Tagged With: 2021, divorce, family law

Five Ways To Bankruptcy Proof Your Divorce

By Cathy Moran

No matter how prejudicial or unfair, a Chapter 13 discharge will relieve a former spouse of obligations of all obligations to their ex except for support. It’s too late to protect your hard won rights to non support payments once the bankruptcy is filed. Let’s look at how ex spouses are vulnerable to a bankruptcy discharge. Then […]

Filed Under: Consumer Rights, Family Law Tagged With: divorce

Right To Support When Your Ex Files Bankruptcy

By Cathy Moran

Outrage is the usual reaction when a former spouse with child support or alimony files bankruptcy. It reinforces all those less-than-flattering thoughts you harbor about your ex. But,maybe, that’s not the right reaction for two reasons, one old, one new. One is old: support debts can’t be wiped out in bankruptcy. The second reason is new: failure […]

Filed Under: Consumer Rights, Family Law

When Your STBX Files Bankruptcy: An Action Plan

By Cathy Moran

stbx bankruptcy

Whether the news comes by phone or mail, the notice that your soon-to-be-ex spouse has filed bankruptcy can bring fear and confusion. You need some facts and a plan, now. So let’s look at how bankruptcy affects a non filing spouse and how to chart a course through a STBX bankruptcy case. Child support safe […]

Filed Under: Family Law, Strictly California Tagged With: divorce, family law

Marital Separation Doesn’t Require Two Homes

By Cathy Moran

Split the sheets in California, and your wages are no longer community property. That’s because property acquired during marriage but after a marital separation isn’t community property. That’s been California law for a long while. The sticky wicket has been drawing the line when the marriage has broken down and the couple has separated. “When” they separated determines […]

Filed Under: Family Law, Strictly California Tagged With: 2016

  • 1
  • 2
  • Next Page »
Chapter 13 available to more

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 on how I think law should work for the consumer and small businesses when it comes to debt.

Moran Law Group
Bankruptcy specialists for individuals and small businesses in the San Francisco Bay Area

How Bankruptcy Works

How To Pay For Bankruptcy When You’re Flat Broke

One of the cosmic ironies of our legal system is that it costs money to file bankruptcy. Bankruptcy gets you out of debt only if you have the money to file. The costs of bankruptcy include the filing fee collected by the court; the required credit counseling; and, if you're smart, an experienced lawyer to make sure … 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.