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4 Rules For Testifying At Your Bankruptcy Hearing

By Cathy Moran

going to court

Going to court for your first meeting of creditors? What are they going to ask me?, you wonder. My bankruptcy clients imagine a quiz on the contents of their bankruptcy papers. Or worse, an inquisition on why they needed to file bankruptcy. That’s not likely.  The first meeting of creditors is much more likely to […]

Filed Under: How bankruptcy works

4 Easy Tips To Prepare For Bankruptcy

By Cathy Moran

ready for life after bankruptcy

Ready for life after bankruptcy? Even before your case is filed, you can start preparing for your life after bankruptcy. These four steps will probably  make the bankruptcy case be smoother, too. Change banks Your money on deposit in “your” bank may not be solely yours. If you have a loan or other debt to your […]

Filed Under: How bankruptcy works, Life after bankruptcy Tagged With: bankruptcy preparation

What You Left Out Of Your Bankruptcy Schedules

By Cathy Moran

bankruptcy schedules

One of the first questions a bankruptcy trustee will ask you at the hearing in your bankruptcy case is:  did you read the schedules before you signed them? The obvious, and expected, answer is YES. And if your answer is “yes”, then the trustee can conclude that you stand behind the information that the schedules […]

Filed Under: How bankruptcy works Tagged With: bankruptcy hearing, bankruptcy papers

List It Or Lose It: Why It’s Critical To Tell All

By Cathy Moran

bankruptcy disclosure

Transparency is the essential ingredient in bankruptcy. The name of the game is disclosure. In exchange for full disclosure in your bankruptcy papers of assets , debts, and financial history, you get a discharge. Do it right, everyone with notice of your case is bound by the discharge. Disclosure costs you nothing and it insulates you from […]

Filed Under: How bankruptcy works Tagged With: 2017, bankruptcy papers

$7000 Off The Price Of The Car In Chapter 13

By Cathy Moran

car loan in 13

  When the client finally got me a copy of the car finance contract, it saved them $7000 on the price of the car. They’d tried just giving me the monthly statement. But that statement on the car loan didn’t show the bombshell that I found when I finally examined the contract: Included in the […]

Filed Under: Chapter 13, How bankruptcy works, True Stories Tagged With: 2018

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 […]

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

What To Disclose In Bankruptcy Papers

By Cathy Moran

If the headline drew you in, like the Geico gecko, you can complain you’ve been duped. There’s no decision involved: in bankruptcy papers, you disclose everything. Period. Disclosure is the price of the bankruptcy discharge. Shortchange the system by leaving out inconvenient facts and you risk both the omitted asset and the discharge. Understand the […]

Filed Under: How bankruptcy works

Debt Limits Increase For Chapter 13 Bankruptcy

By Cathy Moran

bankruptcy debt limits

New debt limits for Chapter 13 become effective on April Fool’s Day, 2019. The new numbers are effective for cases filed April 1, 2019 and will control for the next 3 years. And those limits are: Unsecured debt = $ 419,175 Secured debt = $$1,257,850 The current limits effective through March 31, 2019 are  unsecured debt […]

Filed Under: Chapter 13, How bankruptcy works Tagged With: 2019, bankruptcy debt limits, chapter 13

Cut Tax Penalties In Bankruptcy

By Cathy Moran

Get in tax trouble and the 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 tax […]

Filed Under: Chapter 13, How bankruptcy works, Taxes Tagged With: tax penalties

Can I Sell Stuff Before I File Bankruptcy

By Cathy Moran

Thinking about filing bankruptcy?  Need cash? Folk wisdom supplies many “rules” about the period leading up to actually filing bankruptcy: Don’t sell anything Don’t pay anyone Don’t make any money This kind of thinking will have you frozen in time and space like this insect in amber. Only, this folk “wisdom” is all wrong. Here’s […]

Filed Under: How bankruptcy works Tagged With: before filing bankruptcy

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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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