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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

New California Bankruptcy Exemptions

By Cathy Moran

california exemptions

Californians filing bankruptcy got some new exemptions to protect their assets on January 1, 2023. Plus, we will see the triennial inflation increases in April, 2023. California has its own set of exclusively bankruptcy exemptions, as an alternative to the standard state law exemptions. California opted out of the Bankruptcy Code’s exemptions, in favor of […]

Filed Under: Strictly California Tagged With: 2019, exemptions

California Renter Protections From Eviction: How To Qualify

By Cathy Moran

california eviction protection

California  bans evictions for non payment triggered by the COVID-19 shut-down under Gov. Newsom’s executive order of March 27,2020. The protection comes with a big IF:  A tenant must act to trigger these protections, which run through May 31,2020. Who is protected The order covers tenants who have been laid off had hours cut suffered […]

Filed Under: Strictly California Tagged With: 2020

Collection Law Suits in California

By Cathy Moran

A prospective bankruptcy client often arrives in my office they’ve been sued for debt and they are panicked about the consequences. Almost invariably, the client has leapt to two incorrect assumptions:  the world as they know it is coming to an end; and  they don’t have to do anything until the date set for the case […]

Filed Under: Debt Collection Rights, Strictly California Tagged With: sued for debt

Collection Suits and Court Dates

By Cathy Moran

Those in financial difficulty are frequently not operating at their peak.  I know that. But for the life of me, I can’t understand how the recipient of a summons and complaint from a California court can read the papers and absorb only that they have a “court date”. Arghhh! How California lawsuit works The basic […]

Filed Under: Debt Collection Rights, Strictly California Tagged With: sued

Why Even Rock Solid Marriages Need A Prenuptial Agreement

By Cathy Moran

Pre nuptial agreements aren’t just for the rich or  mid-life marriages. In California, pre nuptial agreements do far more than provide a blueprint for division of property at divorce. A prenup can earn its keep for decades in marriages where divorce never enters the picture. Why? It protects the assets of the marriage from outsiders. […]

Filed Under: Featured, Strictly California Tagged With: community property

Does Marriage Make Me Liable For My Spouse’s Debts

By Cathy Moran

Liability of community property in California

Countless times, a client announces that he won’t marry the love of his life until he’s fixed his debt problems. Noble thought, but unnecessary in California.  Even though we have a community property system of marital property. His bride will not become liable for the debts he brings to the marriage. If the newlyweds elect to have community property, […]

Filed Under: Strictly California

What Are Your Rights In A California Foreclosure

By Cathy Moran

The old saw about Oakland, California is that there is no “there” there. I suggest it’s the same about being “in foreclosure”:  foreclosure is not a place, it’s a path. Nothing legally meaningful changes until you get to a foreclosure sale.  Everything before that is prelude. Yet several  Bay Area clients have asked whether they can remove personal […]

Filed Under: Strictly California

Dates, Mates, and Debts In A Community Property State

By Cathy Moran

Scoping out dates and mates by their credit scores at first seems far fetched and overblown. Not to mention it pretty much kills romance. CNN reported on credit scores and dating.  My colleague Frank Pipitone took off on the idea. But there is a kernel of wisdom there that couples in California need to heed. […]

Filed Under: Strictly California

Creditor Must Pay If It Loses A Bankruptcy Fight

By Cathy Moran

  The game isn’t very fair when the players are mismatched. Though bankruptcy court is hardly a game, it’s been unfair when it comes to attorneys fees for the winning party. California law provides that when a contract allows one party their fees if they prevail, the other party got their fees if they won.  So, […]

Filed Under: Strictly California

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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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