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The Secret Bankruptcy Exemptions

By Cathy Moran

Exemptions in bankruptcy are all about what you keep. Exemptions define the collection of assets and rights that are safe from the reach of a bankruptcy trustee or your creditors. But planning exemptions in a bankruptcy case is more than just the looking down the list of things you keep through bankruptcy and the dollar amount […]

Filed Under: How bankruptcy works

How to Screw Up Your Bankruptcy

By Cathy Moran

Transferring assets to others on the eve of bankruptcy is the single, easiest way to mess up your bankruptcy case. Everyone seems to think If an asset isn’t titled to you,  it does not have to be disclosed in a bankruptcy filing. I hear it and see it in action, again and again. If it […]

Filed Under: How bankruptcy works

Consider The Clawback of Pre-bankruptcy Transfers Before Filing

By Cathy Moran

bankruptcy clawback

If you don’t understand clawback in bankruptcy, you might think that bankruptcy involves only what you have when you file. But that’s not how it works. Bankruptcy law gives a bankruptcy trustee to power to unwind transactions and transfers that diminish what the debtor has on the day the case is filed. The idea is […]

Filed Under: Considering Bankruptcy, How bankruptcy works Tagged With: 2022, avoidance, fraudulent transfer, preference

Doing The Means Test Yourself

By Cathy Moran

Posts on internet bankruptcy boards feature individuals who have “filled out the means test” and then proceed to announce their conclusions. Given the uncertainties in the legal community about how to apply the means test, I can’t imagine a non lawyer learning anything reliable from trying to do this themselves.  As a certified bankruptcy specialist, I […]

Filed Under: How bankruptcy works, Means test

Bankruptcy Alphabet: K Is For Keep

By Cathy Moran

The letter K is for the stuff you keep through bankruptcy. The cartoon image of someone going through bankruptcy has them wearing a barrel instead of clothes. It’s a funny image but it’s not real. Most debtors keep far more of their assets than you’d image. Here’s why. Exemption law protects assets The Bankruptcy Code […]

Filed Under: ABC's of bankruptcy, How bankruptcy works

Chapter 13 Keeps You In Control

By Cathy Moran

steering your financial course

You can’t decide between bankruptcy chapters until you really understand how Chapter 13 works to keep you in control.   Control of your assets, control of your payment plan, control of who gets paid. You want to be at the helm of your case.  Chapter 13 can do that. Chapter 13 protects more than assets Chapter […]

Filed Under: Chapter 13, How bankruptcy works Tagged With: 2016

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

Bankruptcy Alphabet: O Is For Omitted

By Cathy Moran

Bankruptcy alphabet: O is for Omitted

O stands for Omitted in my Bankruptcy Alphabet.  Whether it’s creditors or assets that are left out, omissions can create trouble in a bankruptcy filing. So, O could also stand for Oops. When creditors are left out Omitted creditors usually create problems only for the person filing the bankruptcy.  Bankruptcy works on notice, and, at […]

Filed Under: ABC's of bankruptcy, How bankruptcy works

What Debts Were Discharged In My Bankruptcy?

By Cathy Moran

After your bankruptcy, one of the hardest questions is figuring out just which debts were discharged. Eliminating debts was the whole point of filing bankruptcy. You’ve got a court order, but no list. You and your creditors understandably  expect to find a single document telling them what debts are no longer enforceable and which survive the bankruptcy. No such […]

Filed Under: How bankruptcy works Tagged With: 2016, California

Get A Bankruptcy Discharge Even Without Making All Your Payments

By Cathy Moran

You can get a Chapter 13 discharge even  without making all the plan payments you promised. There are hoops to jump through and facts to marshal to get that discharge, but it’s possible. The Bankruptcy Code provides for a hardship discharge in Chapter 13 to those whose failure to complete their plan is due to circumstances […]

Filed Under: How bankruptcy works Tagged With: 2017

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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

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

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