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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

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

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

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

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. The rack […]

Filed Under: Considering Bankruptcy, How bankruptcy works, True Stories

Tax Liens Live On After Bankruptcy, Unless….

By Cathy Moran

You mean the tax liens won’t  go away when I get a bankruptcy discharge? The client was startled that the lien would live on beyond his bankruptcy. So, if all my debt doesn’t go away, what do I get from the bankruptcy discharge?  he asked. I thought the tax debt went away when I filed. […]

Filed Under: Featured, Life after bankruptcy, Taxes, True Stories

The Means Test: Badly Mangled

By Cathy Moran

Another purported financial professional has confidently and conclusively gotten the bankruptcy means test absolutely dead wrong. And used that wrong conclusion to steer someone away from bankruptcy. Mt. St. Helens has nothing on me in terms of venting. How can financial professionals get this so wrong, more than a decade after the means test was enacted? Mangling the […]

Filed Under: How bankruptcy works, True Stories

Who Owns Your Business When You File Bankruptcy?

By Cathy Moran

business bankruptcy

The bankruptcy trustee’s question was straightforward (if inartful) yet the business owner nearly blew the answer. The trustee asked:  are you the sole owner of your business? When my client hesitated, she followed up:  are you a sole proprietor? Focusing on the fact that he was the only person with an interest in the business, […]

Filed Under: Consumer Rights, Small business, True Stories Tagged With: 2018

Chapter 13 To The Rescue In Ruinous Business Lawsuit

By Cathy Moran

rescued

Twice in the last six months, Chapter 13 bankruptcy has saved clients facing catastrophic lawsuits arising out of business. And because the targets of these lawsuits filed bankruptcy before they’d spent a fortune on lawyers and before the court had a chance to award huge damages, they fit beneath the Chapter 13 debt limits. We […]

Filed Under: Chapter 13, How bankruptcy works, True Stories Tagged With: 2016

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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

What Happens To Your Bank Account in Chapter 13

Those considering filing a Chapter 13 bankruptcy worry about "what happens to my bank account?" Will the trustee take all the money? How do I pay my living expenses after I file? The short answer is: nothing changes. The account remains yours and available for all the expenses of day to day living. Because, … Read more

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