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 […]
California Anti Deficiency Laws Trump Short Sale Agreement
A California homeowner who negotiated a short sale of her home that left her personally liable to the lender for the shortage scored an appeals court victory expanding our understanding of the anti deficiency provisions of California law. Coker v. J.P.Morgan Chase, decided by the 4th Appellate District court, barred enforcement of the seller’s agreement to […]
Super Bankruptcy Lawyer Spotted in Mountain View
Cathy Moran was again named a Super Lawyer in Bankruptcy for Northern California in 2016 for the 10th year in a row. This is pretty heady stuff, Cathy was heard to admit. But then, it’s just part of the job of getting clients out of debt and back in a sound financial place. You can follow Cathy […]
California Pulls The Plug On Debt Buyers
Up until now, old debts lived on, until the person who owed the debt pulled the plug. That’s right: it is the person who is liable for the debt who can kill the debt off, not the person to whom the money is owed. Because, at law, there’s a limit on the age of a […]
Bankruptcy And Divorce Collide: The Revenge Filing
My soon-to-be ex threatens to file a bankruptcy tomorrow and get me kicked out of the house. The frantic voice on the phone wanted to know whether he could do that in California. Or better, how he could be stopped from upsetting the pending divorce through the bankruptcy courts. Welcome to the volatile collision between bankruptcy and […]
Try The Community Property Two Step
Life and debt often presents us with conflicting imperatives. Bankruptcy is required, but when to file? One pressure says: File now! Another issue says: Wait! I saw this vividly this week when the couple walked in with a foreclosure sale in two weeks and $40,000 in taxes that won’t be dischargeable for 18 months. There’s no […]
No More Repossession Threat If Exemption Bill Passes
What Congress took away ten years ago, the California legislature may give back if SB 308 becomes law. When the Bankruptcy Code was amended in 2005, Congress gifted the car finance industry with a plum: those who filed bankruptcy could no longer make their car payments after bankruptcy and count on keeping their cars. Instead debtors were […]
No Recourse for Junior Lien in Short Sale
Junior lenders who consent to a short sale of underwater homes are barred from seeking to collect anything further from sellers under a newly enacted California statute. The law, signed on July 15, 2011, becomes effective immediately. It applies to properties, held by individuals, comprising 1-4 residential units. Senate Bill 458 accords the same restrictions […]
California addresses foreclosure crisis
California’s legislature passed changes to state foreclosure law that attempts to require dialog between an unpaid mortgage lender and a homeowner facing loss of his home. SB1137 adds a requirement that the parties meet and discuss options to foreclosure before a notice of default can be recorded. Lenders must advise the debtor of the availability […]
Bay Area credit card debt
The changes to credit card billing practices proposed by the FRB are welcome, but just scratch the surface of the crushing quality of credit card debt. My sense, talking to financially stressed people day after day, is that credit cards have merely postponed for many Bay Area residents the recognition that they cannot live a […]
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