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Search Results for: do you need to file bankruptcy

Who Cares About Your Spending Before Bankruptcy?

By Cathy Moran

spending before bankrutpcy

Worried about using credit cards before bankruptcy? Afraid of prejudicing your bankruptcy case by spending your tax refund before you file? Do you imagine some authority figure deciding that your financial behavior in the run-up to bankruptcy bars you from relief? Take a deep breath. That’s not how it works. Let’s look at what matters […]

Filed Under: Considering Bankruptcy, Featured Tagged With: 2024, 341, bankruptcy trustee, credit cards, first meeting

What Happens To Your Business in Bankruptcy

By Cathy Moran

business in bankruptcy

Before you file bankruptcy, you need to know what happens to your business in your bankruptcy. And like so many things, there’s no single, simple answer. Two factors drive the fate of the business. One is whether the business is itself a legal entity, like a corporation or LLC. The second is what chapter you […]

Filed Under: Featured, Small business Tagged With: 2025, business, corporation, llc

Inclusion in Bankruptcy Doesn’t Equal “Discharged”

By Cathy Moran

include debts

Convincing clients that all of their debts must be included in bankruptcy is one of the hardest parts of being a bankruptcy lawyer. The struggle often seems Herculean. Sometimes, they will tell me they don’t want to include their car loan in the case because they “need the car”. Sometimes I find the student loan payment […]

Filed Under: How bankruptcy works Tagged With: debts included, discharge, included

Title Isn’t Everything: Watch Out For The Assets In Your Spouse’s Name

By Cathy Moran

community property surprise

Your spouse’s assets can get swept up in your bankruptcy when you live in California. Because, most likely, just holding an asset in the name of one spouse doesn’t defeat the community property presumption. I saw it play out in a first meeting of creditors when the bankruptcy trustee asked about an asset. But it’s […]

Filed Under: Strictly California Tagged With: 2016, California

Better Credit After Bankruptcy: Does Reaffirming A Car Loan Help?

By Cathy Moran

rebuilding credit through reaffirmation

Does reaffirming a car loan after bankruptcy help rebuild your credit? Rebuilding credit is the motivation that drives lots of debtors to waive the benefits of their discharge as to a car loan. A reaffirmation agreement has the debtor agreeing to be personally liable after the bankruptcy discharge for the car loan balance. Miss payments […]

Filed Under: Consumer Rights Tagged With: 2021, credit score

What Happens To Cash In Bankruptcy?

By Cathy Moran

keep cash in bankruptcy

How much cash can you keep when you file bankruptcy? It’s not as though you won’t have living expenses after you file bankruptcy. You need to know how you’ll manage and what you’ll have to manage with. Funding that fresh start is what exemptions are all about. We are talking here about California because exemptions, […]

Filed Under: Consumer Rights Tagged With: bank deposits, cash, exemptions, money

Find The Right Cure for Your Debt Problems

By Cathy Moran

get out of debt

Get-out-of-debt advice and sales pitches abound. But too few get-out-of-debt gurus tell you that you need a diagnosis of your financial ills before prescribing the cure. Is the stomach ache indigestion or appendicitis? Is it temporary upset or life threatening? The answer makes a big difference in how you treat it. No single prescription for […]

Filed Under: Considering Bankruptcy, Featured Tagged With: 2019, get out of debt

The Biggest Bankruptcy Mistake You Can Make

By Cathy Moran

bankruptcy's biggest mistake

The biggest bankruptcy mistake has nothing to do with choice of chapter, exemptions, disclosure, or attorneys. It has to do with timing. The biggest bankruptcy mistake is waiting too long to consider bankruptcy. Time is seldom your friend What’s wrong with letting time pass before making a momentous decision? Doesn’t time heal most wounds? No, […]

Filed Under: Considering Bankruptcy, Featured Tagged With: 2023, bankruptcy right for me, consider bankruptcy

Why File Bankruptcy? It’s Your Life Expectancy

By Cathy Moran

paying debts

Increasing life spans and the demise of pension plans is why filing bankruptcy now makes sense. Old debt has a way of sucking the air out of today’s budget. You can’t make repairs to your car or see to needed health care or accumulate an emergency cushion because you’re still paying for stuff you bought […]

Filed Under: Considering Bankruptcy, Featured Tagged With: 2017, IRA, retirement, savings

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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

Inclusion in Bankruptcy Doesn’t Equal “Discharged”

Convincing clients that all of their debts must be included in bankruptcy is one of the hardest parts of being a bankruptcy lawyer. The struggle often seems Herculean. Sometimes, they will tell me they don't want to include their car loan in the case because they "need the car". Sometimes I find the … Read more

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