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Personal money management is complicated

By Cathy Moran

My newest colleague in the Bankruptcy Law Network, Adrian Lapas, discussed the critical importance of developing a budget in connection with a Chapter 13 plan.  Spend the plan payment on something else and your case may be dismissed.

Budgeting for your post bankruptcy  life is made more complex by a number of factors:

  • Many people underestimate the actual  cost of transportation, health care, and running a household
  • The official bankruptcy form for budget includes no line item for vacations, birthdays, Christmas, or the routine replacement of appliances and soft goods
  • Debtors have been doing without everything that can be postponed in an effort to pay their debts
  • The little things have become “standard” in people’s lives and add up:  cell phones, meals away from home, manicures, hi end cable

My charge to my clients is to figure out where the money needs to go and to rethink  what is essential.  What is at stake, often, is keeping the house, discharging the debt, and saving for emergencies and retirement.

First things first.

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Filed Under: Life after bankruptcy

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

How Bankruptcy Works

How To Pay For Bankruptcy When You’re Flat Broke

One of the cosmic ironies of our legal system is that it costs money to file bankruptcy. Bankruptcy gets you out of debt only if you have the money to file. The costs of bankruptcy include the filing fee collected by the court; the required credit counseling; and, if you're smart, an experienced lawyer to make sure … Read more

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