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Katrina as a model for debtors

By Cathy Moran

The enormous devastation wrought by Katrina has prompted a push to delay implementation of the harsh new bankruptcy provisions or to exempt victims of disasters from its more burdensome provisions.

What Congress missed, or didn’t care to consider, when it enacted the 2005 bankruptcy bill, is that the lives of most bankruptcy debtors are just paler relicas of the hurricane victims. Outside the hurricane’s wake, these flattened financial lives are found one a block, rather than for blocks on end. But the sense of fear and dispair about their finances is not dissimilar.

When we remember that nine out of ten bankruptcy debtors have experienced job loss, divorce or significant illness, we’re left with the sense that these folks are also victims of things largely out of their control. Yet the “leadership” in Congress waves the banner of “personal responsibility” while marching to the tune of the credit industry.

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About Cathy Moran

I'm a veteran bankruptcy lawyer and consumer advocate in California's Silicon Valley. I write, teach, and speak in the hopes of expanding understanding of how bankruptcy can make life better in a family's future.

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

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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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