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California Homestead Exemption: The Truth Isn’t What You Think

By Cathy Moran

how california homestead works

“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, […]

Filed Under: Strictly California, True Stories Tagged With: 2018

Personal Assets Can Be At Risk For Your Business Debts

By Cathy Moran

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 […]

Filed Under: Consumer Rights, Small business, True Stories Tagged With: 2017

DYI Bankruptcy Did Him In

By Cathy Moran

For a layman filing a bankruptcy without a lawyer, he didn’t do too badly. He got credit counseling and filed the certificate. He completed the schedules fairly well. He even filed a pro se adversary proceeding to enforce the automatic stay when the foreclosure on a multi million dollar property went forward despite the bankruptcy. […]

Filed Under: Consumer Rights, True Stories, You & your lawyer

Bankruptcy Alternatives Cost More, Deliver Less

By Cathy Moran

bankruptcy alternatives

Everyone wants a solution to their debt problems without bankruptcy. But the truth is, bankruptcy alternatives often suck. The on-line story of one customer of a debt settlement company particularly sticks with me. Using the “services” of this company, the poster now has six new judgments of record and two garnishments in process. The debt […]

Filed Under: Considering Bankruptcy, True Stories

Client “wants to think” before getting good bankruptcy information

By Cathy Moran

considering bankruptcy

The caller with a pending foreclosure sale called and canceled an initial consultation with me last week.   He wanted to “think about it” before coming in.  Huh? Think about being homeless? Think about the cost of getting relief through bankruptcy? Think about confronting a dire situation? It was almost as if gathering information about options […]

Filed Under: Considering Bankruptcy, Consumer Rights, True Stories

Debt settlement: how it really works

By Cathy Moran

Debt settlement companies thrive on tapping the consumer’s genuine desire to pay back their debts. They don’t tell you how debt settlement works, in reality. They promise that they will compromise with your creditors for a sizable discount and all will be well with the world. There are any number of reasons that isn’t so, […]

Filed Under: Consumer Rights, Debt Collection Rights, True Stories

How One Family Settled Huge Debt For Pennies

By Cathy Moran

debt settlement

Almost everyone wants to settle debt rather than file bankruptcy. But how about settling debt using bankruptcy? Here’s how one family pulled it off. When they started the Chapter 13 trek, they owed $370,000 in personal loans and credit cards. As they completes the plan, they will have settled that debt for three cents on […]

Filed Under: Chapter 13, Featured, True Stories Tagged With: 2018

Two Strikes & You’re Out (Of Your Home)

By Cathy Moran

bankruptcy stay

Three strikes and you’re out.  Anyone familiar with baseball knows that one. The rules are different in bankruptcy. Two strikes and you’re out. And for one couple, they’re not only out of bankruptcy, they’re out of their house. Foreclosed the day after they filed bankruptcy number three. Because, what they didn’t know is that there […]

Filed Under: Featured, True Stories Tagged With: 2017, do it yourself

What Everyone Knows About Bankruptcy: Not

By Cathy Moran

torture device

Lots of people profess to know all about bankruptcy. Whether they have good information or not. But other professionals should know better than to advise people about the workings of bankruptcy. And if they don’t know better, they should be made to pay, in some exquisitely painful way, for the harm they inflict with bad […]

Filed Under: Considering Bankruptcy, Consumer Rights, True Stories Tagged With: living expenses, means test

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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

Bankruptcy Alphabet: F is for First

In my Bankruptcy Alphabet, F is for First meeting of creditors. Lots of rumors exist about the that meeting; it produces unwarranted anxiety that is avoidable if you understand what's up. Let's check it out. The first meeting of creditors, also called the 341 meeting, is often the only time a debtor has to appear … Read more

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