• Home
  • Bankruptcy in Brief
  • ABC’s of Bankruptcy
  • Considering Bankruptcy
  • True Stories
  • Chapter 13
  • Blog
  • About
  • TOC

Northern California Bankruptcy Lawyer

On The Bankruptcy Soapbox

The Soap Box
  • How bankruptcy works
  • Mortgage Matters
  • Consumer Rights
  • You & Your Lawyer
  • Small Business
  • Family Law

The New Rules Of Asset Protection

By Cathy Moran

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 […]

Filed Under: Consumer Rights, True Stories

Is There Life After Bankruptcy?

By Cathy Moran

frequently asked questions

Is bankruptcy worth it? If you see filing bankruptcy to get a fresh start as painful or less than honorable, you might wonder what life is like, on the other side of bankruptcy. What’s the return on taking the big step? I got a report from the other side this week from a Chapter 7 […]

Filed Under: Considering Bankruptcy, Featured, Life after bankruptcy, True Stories

Pay Off Credit Cards Without Interest: Bankruptcy For The Solvent

By Cathy Moran

chapter 13 rescue

Once again, Chapter 13 rescued a client. He’ll get out of debt and pay off credit cards with no interest going forward. So many people tell me they could pay off the credit card balance if it wasn’t for the high interest. This client owned a home, had a job, and was solvent on paper, but […]

Filed Under: Chapter 13, Consumer Rights, True Stories Tagged With: 2016, homestead

Getting Excused From Bankruptcy’s Means Test

By Cathy Moran

You can skip the bankruptcy 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. Don’t miss […]

Filed Under: How bankruptcy works, Means test, True Stories

Can You Spot The Signs Of A Collection Scam

By Cathy Moran

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 […]

Filed Under: Consumer Rights, Debt Collection Rights, True Stories Tagged With: jail for debt, scam

Which Bankruptcy Chapter Is Right For Me?

By Cathy Moran

choose bankruptcy chapter

Seven or Thirteen? 13 or 7? When you have a choice, how do you decide which chapter of bankruptcy works best? Usually, the choice is driven by the scope of the discharge and the kind of debts you have. More kinds of  debts are dischargeable in Chapter 13 and the automatic stay protects you for the […]

Filed Under: Consumer Rights, True Stories Tagged With: 2016, choose chapter, timing

Who Files Bankruptcy In The Face Of Booming Bay Area Economy?

By Cathy Moran

who files bankruptcy

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 are outrageous. So who files bankruptcy in this pocket of prosperity? All kinds of people, it turns out. Let’s look at the people who sought […]

Filed Under: Strictly California, True Stories Tagged With: 2016, Bay Area, Silicon Valley, who files

New Bankruptcy Trends From An Old Hand

By Cathy Moran

bankruptcy trends

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 […]

Filed Under: Featured, True Stories Tagged With: 2017

When Can I File Bankruptcy Again

By Cathy Moran

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 […]

Filed Under: How bankruptcy works, True Stories

$7000 Off The Price Of The Car In Chapter 13

By Cathy Moran

car loan in 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 […]

Filed Under: Chapter 13, How bankruptcy works, True Stories Tagged With: 2018

  • « Previous Page
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
  • Next Page »
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

More Posts from this Category

643 Bair Island Road
Suite 403
Redwood City, CA 94063
Phone: (650) 694-4700
Phone: (650) 368-4700

Categories

All content copyright © Moran Law Group. All rights reserved.