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High Income Earners Pass Bankruptcy’s Means Test

By Cathy Moran Leave a Comment

ALERT:   Being above the median income on the means test is not an automatic bar to filing bankruptcy I’m so used to railing against deliberate campaigns of misinformation about bankruptcy that I forget that there’s a lot of innocent ignorance out there. Start with “qualifying” for bankruptcy. A very earnest and ethical financial counselor was […]

Filed Under: How bankruptcy works

Chapter 13: Know Who Gets Paid First Under Your Plan

By Cathy Moran 4 Comments

Who gets paid in Chapter 13, and in what order, makes a huge different when charting your course. Sometimes, we must realize that reality exists outside of television shows. And when real-world reality hits some debtors, it’s a trainwreck. It comes up for me when Chapter 13 clients and I sit down to write the […]

Filed Under: Chapter 13, How bankruptcy works

How To Pay For Bankruptcy When You’re Flat Broke

By Cathy Moran

paying for bankruptcy

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 […]

Filed Under: How bankruptcy works

Scofflaws Must Pay When They Violate The Stay

By Cathy Moran

Debtors in bankruptcy got back the right to collect all of their damages for violations of the automatic stay when the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals en banc overturned the Sternberg case. We conclude that Sternberg misconstrued the plain meaning of §362(k). To the extent it is inconsistent with this opinion, Sternberg is overruled. I thought […]

Filed Under: How bankruptcy works

How Chapter 13 Cuts Car Loan Down To Size

By Cathy Moran

Car lenders who make new car loans with an underwater trade-in will face the music in Chapter 13. The Supreme Court declined to review a 9th Circuit decision that stripped car loans of their protected specially protected status in bankruptcy; as a result, Californians will continue to benefit from the debtor-friendly decision in Penrod, rising out of […]

Filed Under: Chapter 13, How bankruptcy works Tagged With: car loan, chapter 13, underwater trade in

Speak Fluent Bankruptcy: Guide To Essential Bankruptcy Terms

By Cathy Moran

bankruptcy terms

Bankruptcy has its own language.  If you are considering filing bankruptcy, it helps to know the language spoken there. Master just a couple of words and phrases, and input from a bankruptcy lawyer starts to make sense. So, in our continuing campaign for better understanding of bankruptcy, here’s a dozen phrases from the language of […]

Filed Under: How bankruptcy works Tagged With: 2017

When Can I File Bankruptcy Again

By Cathy Moran

file bankruptcy again

You can file bankruptcy tomorrow, so long as you don’t currently have a bankruptcy case pending. When you can get a discharge in that case is a different story. The Bankruptcy Code limits the frequency of getting a discharge, not the filing and completion of the bankruptcy case. My friend Gene Melchionne wrote a marvelous […]

Filed Under: How bankruptcy works, True Stories

What Everyone Knows About Bankruptcy: Not

By Cathy Moran

torture device

Lots of people profess to know all about bankruptcy. Whether they have good information or not. But other professionals should know better than to advise people about the workings of bankruptcy. And if they don’t know better, they should be made to pay, in some exquisitely painful way, for the harm they inflict. The rack […]

Filed Under: Considering Bankruptcy, How bankruptcy works, True Stories

What Your Bankruptcy Lawyer Can’t Tell You

By Cathy Moran

bankruptcy secret about means test

I can share a secret, just between us. Bankruptcy “reform” in 2005 tried in a number of ways to discredit and gag lawyers from helping debtors. One of those additions to the Bankruptcy Code prohibits lawyers from advising those filing bankruptcy to incur new debt.  The statute makes no distinction about the kind of debt […]

Filed Under: How bankruptcy works Tagged With: Car, means test

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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

High Income Earners Pass Bankruptcy’s Means Test

ALERT:   Being above the median income on the means test is not an automatic bar to filing bankruptcy I'm so used to railing against deliberate campaigns of misinformation about bankruptcy that I forget that there's a lot of innocent ignorance out there. Start with "qualifying" for bankruptcy. A very … Read more

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