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The Struggle To Surrender Underwater Real Estate

By Cathy Moran

surrendering real propery

How difficult it can be to surrender real property in bankruptcy when you have no hope of paying for it. After all, the lender takes a mortgage on the property so they can take it from you if you don’t pay. My client’s bankruptcy plan said he would make no payments on the rental’s mortgage […]

Filed Under: Featured, Real property & mortgages, True Stories Tagged With: 2016, surrender

10 Best Bankruptcy Soap Box Posts Of 2015

By Cathy Moran

How do I measure which Soapbox posts from 2015 are my favorites?  It’s like asking which of my children I like the best. Some posts I like because the topic is important;  some because they are useful; and some I just like because they were fun to write. So, here goes my countdown to the 10 posts […]

Filed Under: Featured Tagged With: 2015

10 Best Bankruptcy & Money Posts Of 2015

By Cathy Moran

bankruptcy gems

Jumping the gun on year end by a bit, I’ve gathered up the 10 most-read posts on Bankruptcy Soapbox in 2015. Without need of an envelop, please,  here they are, in reverse order: 10.    Debtor Bites Collector Over Stale Debt Continuing a collection action after learning the debt was beyond the statute of limitations […]

Filed Under: Featured

Why These Student Loans Got Discharged In Bankruptcy

By Cathy Moran

student loan discharge

Discharging the student loans of a truck driver who lived in his employer’s truck or in a homeless shelter, the bankruptcy court found that repaying $37,000 in student loans from 20 years ago would be an undue hardship. Good call, but why does the decision excite? Student loans do get discharged in bankruptcy, sometimes.  This […]

Filed Under: Featured, Student loans

Thankful

By Cathy Moran

Professionally, what’s a bankruptcy lawyer thankful for? I’m thankful for experience and a skill set useful to real people with financial problems. I’m thankful for bankruptcy laws, flawed as they are, that allow people to escape debt and focus on the future. I’m thankful for the right to vote for people who might make the laws […]

Filed Under: Featured, You & your lawyer

Why Would Lawyer Choose Consumer Bankruptcy?

By Cathy Moran

I had my fees cut last week in a small Chapter 13 case.  The cut ($500) wasn’t large in absolute terms. But the wound is deep and will continue to bleed into my attitude about what I do as a professional. To borrow a phrase from my kids, I feel profoundly disrespected. The case, filed by […]

Filed Under: Featured, You & your lawyer

Lien Stripping Works Without A Bankruptcy Discharge

By Cathy Moran

The waiting and uncertainty is over.  The judges have decided. Chapter 13 debtors can void underwater junior liens even if they aren’t eligible for a bankruptcy discharge in the Chapter 13 case. So says the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in a case called Blendheim, decided October 1. And so, a myriad of Chapter 20 debtors […]

Filed Under: Chapter 13, Featured, Real property & mortgages

Donald Trumpets: I Didn’t File Bankruptcy

By Cathy Moran

As much as it pains me to say, Donald Trump was doubly right about filing bankruptcy. He loudly announced at the debate that he had never filed bankruptcy. And, he’d only taken advantage of our laws in filing. Now, he was contemptuous of his creditors and dismissive about what the filings said about his business judgment. […]

Filed Under: Featured

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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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