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Search Results for: do you need to file bankruptcy

Why Bankruptcy Means Test Is Paper Tiger In Bay Area

By Cathy Moran

means test is paper tiger

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 […]

Filed Under: Means test, Strictly California Tagged With: means test

Bankruptcy Schedules Are More Than Just Paperwork

By Cathy Moran

bankruptcy papers

Bankruptcy paperwork can make you feel like you are drowning in paper. There’s your paper; there’s the paper your lawyer needs.  And there’s the paper the court insists on. Why bankruptcy schedules worth the work It’s easy to try to skate. To cut corners.  To shut down. But that paper is critical. Nearly every question, […]

Filed Under: How bankruptcy works Tagged With: 2017, paperwork, schedules

Can You Get A Car Loan After Bankruptcy?

By Cathy Moran

car loan after bankruptcy

Wheels are essential for most of us to get to work. And whatever you’re driving when you file bankruptcy will need to be replaced at some point. So, how are you going to finance that next car if you’ve just filed bankruptcy and face 7-10 years with the bankruptcy on your credit report? The credit […]

Filed Under: Consumer Rights, Life after bankruptcy Tagged With: 2016

Who To Pay After Bankruptcy

By Cathy Moran

bills after bankruptcy

You’ve filed bankruptcy. Your creditors are stayed. A bankruptcy discharge is ahead. You’re out from under unrelenting pressure to pay creditors. But don’t let your sense of relief keep you from planning:  who should you pay after your case is filed? Paying creditors after filing bankruptcy Two legal realities drive who needs to be paid […]

Filed Under: Consumer Rights Tagged With: 2016, after bankruptcy

Did You Tell The Whole Truth In Your Bankruptcy Papers?

By Cathy Moran

bankruptcy hearing

You must “tell the truth” on your bankruptcy paperwork, bankruptcy advice sites intone. Most of us shrug that off: we can’t imagine deliberately lying to a court. But carelessness about bankruptcy schedules abounds. If you give the bankruptcy paperwork just a lick and a promise, the resulting schedules aren’t truthful, not because of lies, but […]

Filed Under: Consumer Rights, How bankruptcy works

How The Bankruptcy Liquidation Tests Really Work

By Cathy Moran

Is the Chapter 7 trustee going to sell your house when there’s $5000 in non exempt equity? Do you have to pay the total of the equity in your assets to creditors in Chapter 13 under the liquidation test? Far from it. Just because you have equity on paper does not mean a bankruptcy trustee […]

Filed Under: Chapter 13, Consumer Rights Tagged With: best interests of creditors, liquidation, sale of assets

What’s The Income Limit for Filing Bankruptcy

By Cathy Moran

bankruptcy income limit

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’s apply to individuals whose debt is primarily […]

Filed Under: How bankruptcy works, Means test Tagged With: 2024, income limits, means test

Will recent credit card use sink my bankruptcy

By Cathy Moran

credit-cards-sink-case

If I’ve used credit cards before filing bankruptcy, do I have to wait? Too many people considering filing think there is some sort of waiting period between financial activity and filing bankruptcy. So, let’s look at the issues in play surrounding recent credit card charges and seeking bankruptcy relief. There’s no 90 day rule Everyone […]

Filed Under: Featured, How bankruptcy works Tagged With: 2024, 90 day rule, bank statements in bankruptcy, trustee examination

California drivers score huge bankruptcy win

By Cathy Moran

car after bankruptcy

California law, effective January 1, 2023, will assure those who file bankruptcy that they can keep their car as long as they stay current on payments. No longer does a debtor have to give up their discharge as to the car lender to be sure of keeping the car. The same bill, SB 1099, increases […]

Filed Under: Strictly California Tagged With: 2022, california exemptions, keep and pay, reaffirmation, ride-through

When Your Bankruptcy Discharge Doesn’t End Your Case

By Cathy Moran

bankruptcy case after discharge

Isn’t my case over? I got my discharge.  Why’s the bankruptcy trustee still  hounding me?, my client asks. People who’ve filed bankruptcy are focused on the discharge as their goal. With their discharge in hand, they think it’s all over. They lose sight of the fact that the administration of a bankruptcy estate by the trustee runs on a parallel track to […]

Filed Under: How bankruptcy works

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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

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 … Read more

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