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Your Home Loan May Be Excluded From Homeowner Bill of Rights

By Cathy Moran

Homeowners whose loans were originally made by a federally chartered savings bank are excluded from protections of HBOR,  a federal judge has ruled. Dual tracking is back on the rails California Homeowners Bill of Rights, enacted January, 2013,  prohibited dual tracking of mortgages:  that is, the lender could not simultaneously consider a loan modification and prosecute […]

Filed Under: Strictly California

Your Creditors Lie In Wait For Your Kids

By Cathy Moran

creditor lurks to prey on heirs

Is your legacy to your kids an encounter with your unpaid creditors? Debt problems for those over 65 may not be problems for the elder at all.  Income and assets are largely protected by law from creditors. But that doesn’t trouble creditors:  they’ll simply wait and get their money from your kids. Seniors enjoy protection […]

Filed Under: Consumer Rights, Strictly California Tagged With: 2016, exemptions

The Killer Rule That Zaps Private Student Loans

By Cathy Moran

private student loan

Got private student loans? I’ve got good news and bad news. Bad news first. Private Student Loans Inflexible Private student loans have no built in mechanisms for deferment and forbearances, like government-backed loans do. There are no income based repayment plans, as there are with federal student loans.’  No “outs” for disability or schools that close […]

Filed Under: Strictly California, Student loans

Foreclosure: The Unseen Hazards

By Cathy Moran

It’s not the foreclosing creditor that really threaten California homeowners. It’s the forces that follow foreclosure. The junior lender and the tax man can deliver  truly punishing blows to a family losing a home. Cut-off Junior Lienholders Californians enjoy the protection of the one action rule governing foreclosures. A creditor who conducts a non judicial […]

Filed Under: Strictly California

Bank Has No Remedy After Foreclosure

By Cathy Moran

Facing foreclosure is bad enough; worrying about your exposure afterwards is worse. Breathe deeply. California laws shield homeowners from further collection by a lender who has foreclosed. Understanding Foreclosure Sales To understand California’s protections for homeowners, you have to understand how a typical foreclosure sale works. The deed of trust, given to the lender when […]

Filed Under: Strictly California

Homestead Law Little Protection For California Seniors

By Cathy Moran

California homestead law

Home equity makes up most of the net worth of California seniors. Most are house poor.  Lots of equity, little in liquid assets. But unless you take a very expensive reverse mortgage, that equity may as well be under lock and key.  You can’t pay the monthly expenses from value in real estate. When expenses […]

Filed Under: Strictly California Tagged With: 2016

Earthquake In California Law Of Community Property And Title

By Cathy Moran

The ground has shifted under California real property law. The change looms as large as a quake along the San Andreas fault that runs through our neighborhood. The  words on a real property deed no longer mean exactly what they say when the property owners are married to each other. The newly decided Brace case holds that the […]

Filed Under: Real property & mortgages, Strictly California Tagged With: 2017

Can You Afford The Cost of Retiring Here In California?

By Cathy Moran

San Mateo County

Care to guess what it will cost a retired couple in San Mateo County to meet their basic living needs? If they rent, it takes $3193 a month. If they have a mortgage, it rises to $4247. Those dollars cover housing, food, medical, transportation and $376 for everything else. Social security doesn’t cut it The average Social […]

Filed Under: Strictly California

Free Expert Help With Your Bay Area Home Loan Modification

By Cathy Moran

Applying for a mortgage modification is equal parts torture and miracle drug. It can mean the difference between staying in your home and foreclosure. Yet it comes with more questions than answers. What’s the difference between HAMP and HARP? Do I want to appear broke or prosperous? Should I default before I apply? Critical questions, the […]

Filed Under: Real property & mortgages, Strictly California

California Law on Cancelled Debt Mirrors Federal Law

By Cathy Moran

  I’ve always assumed that California law excluded from income debt forgiven in bankruptcy, just as federal tax law does. When a client asked me to confirm that the treatment was the same, I realized that this was one of those things I had just assumed.  As a lawyer, I ought to know the danger […]

Filed Under: Strictly California, Taxes

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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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