California, it turns out, is a great place to retire. Not because of the cost of living, certainly. It’s great in spite of the cost of living. Because California exemptions are very generous to those of retirement age. Those exemptions effectively make many indebted seniors collection-proof. Bankruptcy for those seniors may seem unnecessary. How exemptions protect […]
Search Results for: do you need to file bankruptcy
Why Bankruptcy Means Test Is Paper Tiger In Bay Area
Bankruptcy’s means test is a paper tiger in the San Francisco Bay Area. Really! You can see why few Bay Area residents are constrained by the means test when you compare the latest median income figures used in the means test with the allowed cost of rental housing here. To review: Congress in 2005 tried to write […]
How 13 Works To Save Your House From Foreclosure
Saving a house from foreclosure is the single reason most people file bankruptcy. Bankruptcy stops foreclosure- that’s a given. But then what? How can bankruptcy save the house from foreclosure, rather than just putting off the inevitable loss? After all, the mortgage lender has a lien on the house, and liens aren’t discharged in bankruptcy. […]
Should You Keep Paying Your Creditors Rather Than File Bankruptcy?
Is there an alternative to bankruptcy, my clients often ask. Can I realistically avoid filing bankruptcy? A fellow bankruptcy lawyer outlined what it takes to get out of debt without bankruptcy. If you could do all three, for long enough, and, your debt isn’t too large, it probably works. I want to pose the question: […]
Title Isn’t Everything: Watch Out For The Assets In Your Spouse’s Name
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 […]
Got Tax Trouble? Don’t File Bankruptcy In December
Bankruptcy can provide tax relief, if your timing is right. Tax troubles are at the heart of so many bankruptcy filings. It makes sense: bankruptcy is a powerful and predictable tool to get out of tax debt. But filing bankruptcy before the end of the year may fix only a part of your tax problems. […]
What looks bad to the trustee in prebankruptcy conduct
Wondering what bankrutpcy trustees look for when they ask for bank statements and question you at the 341 meeting? Worried that a bankruptcy trustee will examine your situation and somehow disqualify you from bankruptcy because of something you did (or didn’t do) right before you filed? Not to worry. Your bankruptcy discharge does not depend […]
What’s The Income Limit for Filing Bankruptcy
Actually, there’s no income limit for filing bankruptcy. None, nada, no way. Instead, there’s the infamous means test, an awkward and complex formula, written by Congress, to identify individuals who are entitled to file Chapter 7. Not everyone has to take the means test. The means test doesn’t apply to individuals whose debt is primarily […]
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 […]
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 student loan payment […]
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