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Free Bankruptcy Advice: 5 Reasons Why I’m Not Free

By Cathy Moran

free bankruptcy consultation

There’s no free initial bankruptcy consultation in my office.  Unlike many, we charge for that initial meeting with a lawyer. (There’s no free lunch either.) That makes us different from lots of other bankruptcy lawyers. Different enough to offend a prospective client who called up this week.  He was unwilling to pay for a consultation, […]

Filed Under: Consumer Rights, You & your lawyer Tagged With: 2016

How To Pick A Bankruptcy Lawyer

By Cathy Moran

interview a bankruptcy lawyer

How do you pick a bankruptcy lawyer when you’ve never hired any lawyer and never before considered filing bankruptcy? What do you ask a bankruptcy lawyer to determine if the lawyer is the right one for you? After all, the conversation has to move beyond “what does bankruptcy cost?” Financial troubles are tough and bankruptcy […]

Filed Under: Featured, You & your lawyer Tagged With: 2016

Three Barriers To Getting Out Of Debt

By Cathy Moran

getting out of debt

Three emotions, not reasons, keep people from filing bankruptcy and getting out of debt. While not as sexy as the seven deadly sins,  these emotions still keep my clients mired in debt long after logic says “quit”. Fear Stubbornness Pride These emotions keep people mired where they are. They block the road forward. Fear Fear of […]

Filed Under: Consumer Rights Tagged With: 2016

Disarm The Debt Collector: Understanding The Weapons of Collection

By Cathy Moran

debt collector

You can stop a debt collector cold, wherever you live, using federal law. Consider that the weapons of a debt collector are fear, shame, and annoyance. The weapon delivery system is communication. Those weapons don’t have to be any more threatening than a plastic toy pistol, if you understand what’s going on. To use those […]

Filed Under: Consumer Rights Tagged With: 2016

Can You Be Arrested For Not Paying Your Debts?

By Cathy Moran

Despite the story spread all over about federal marshals arresting a man for an unpaid student loan, we don’t arrest people for not paying their debts. And Fox News got the story wrong.  The man was not arrested because he owed money he hadn’t paid. He was arrested for blowing off a court order that […]

Filed Under: Consumer Rights, Student loans Tagged With: 2016

California Bankruptcy Law Is All Our Own

By Cathy Moran

california bankruptcy law

California Bankruptcy law is a lot like a unicorn….appealing but imaginary. Instead, we have bankruptcy in California, where the landscape is shaped by community property;  state exemptions, large mortgages, and the 9th circuit court of appeals. Like the Merced River cutting through the granite of Yosemite, those factors alter the bankruptcy landscape here. Community property […]

Filed Under: Strictly California Tagged With: 2016, california bankruptcy

Don’t File Bankruptcy In December

By Cathy Moran

wait to file bankruptcy

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. File bankruptcy before the end of the year and you fix only a part of your tax problems.  […]

Filed Under: Featured, Taxes Tagged With: 2016, discharge taxes

Better To Live With Debts Than File Bankruptcy?

By Cathy Moran

living in debt

Locked up in debt? Should you file bankruptcy? Or, is it better to live with your debt and keep making minimum payments? Does life get better or worse if you file bankruptcy? That question sums up most people’s fears about shedding their debt through bankruptcy. What will life be like, after bankruptcy? Good questions.  And I […]

Filed Under: Considering Bankruptcy, Consumer Rights Tagged With: 2016

When You Can’t Make Your Chapter 13 Payments

By Cathy Moran

going nowhere

When your wallet’s as flat as this tire and you can’t make your Chapter 13 plan payments, what do  you do? Chapter 13 promised a chance to reorganize, keep what’s important, and get out of a financial hole. But it just isn’t working. What now? In good lawyer style, I’ve got to tell you:  it […]

Filed Under: Consumer Rights Tagged With: 2016

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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 on how I think law should work for the consumer and small businesses when it comes to debt.

Moran Law Group
Bankruptcy specialists for individuals and small businesses in the San Francisco Bay Area

How Bankruptcy Works

High Income Earners Pass Bankruptcy’s Means Test

ALERT:   Being above the median income on the means test is not an automatic bar to filing bankruptcy I'm so used to railing against deliberate campaigns of misinformation about bankruptcy that I forget that there's a lot of innocent ignorance out there. Start with "qualifying" for bankruptcy. A very … Read more

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Suite 403
Redwood City, CA 94063
Phone: (650) 694-4700

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