I’m seeing a real change in the people seeing me about filing bankruptcy. Used to be, the problem was credit card debt, unemployment, or divorce. A surprising trend over the past six months is developing. I acknowledge the sample size is small. Statistically, you can challenge the significance, but here are the trends. My office is […]
California Homestead Exemption: The Truth Isn’t What You Think
“They can’t take my house, whatever happens. Right?” The young man in my office “knew” how the California homestead works: he insisted that his home was exempt as a California homestead, even if he filed bankruptcy. He “knew” that credit card debt was dischargeable. And that “knowledge” lead to his conviction that , in bankruptcy, […]
Who Files Bankruptcy In The Face Of Booming Bay Area Economy?
Silicon Valley is booming; our highways are so full of people getting to work that we can’t get to work. Employment is approaching the level of the dot.com bubble. Property values soar. So who needs bankruptcy in this pocket of prosperity? All kinds of people, it turns out. Let’s look at the people who sought me […]
The New Rules Of Asset Protection
I coined a new rule about asset protection schemes after meeting with a bankruptcy prospect: If the asset protection plan is too complicated for the owner to explain, it probably won’t stand up to challenge. This man had paid an attorney a fistful of money to create LLC’s and limited partnerships, each of which held fractional […]
When Can I 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 […]
Getting Excused From Bankruptcy’s Means Test
You can get a pass on the means test without claiming your dog ate your homework. If your debt is not “primarily consumer debt”, you don’t have to pass the means test to file bankruptcy. So, you need to total up the consumer debt you have and compare it to the rest of your debts. […]
Can You Spot The Signs Of A Collection Scam
It’s pretty scary when a $300 payday loan turns into an investigation by the Federal Crimes Bureau. Not only was the recipient of the collection letter below being “investigated for crimes”, his Social Security number would be suspended, and a court case initiated against him immediately. At great cost and embarrassment. Unless, of course, he sent the […]
$7000 Off The Price Of The Car In Chapter 13
How would you like to reduce your car payment, by lots? In a recent case, Chapter 13 allowed my client to save $7000 off the loan balance based on an examination of the car finance contract. You couldn’t see the issue from the monthly statement. When I got the finance agreement itself, I found the […]
Personal Assets Can Be At Risk For Your Business Debts
Business debt can bleed over into an entrepreneur’s personal assets. Hearing me say that, my client was dumbfounded. He was aghast that the generous equity in the home he and his wife owned was at risk when his corporate business folded. That was not because the shareholder is liable for the corporation’s debts. A properly […]
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