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The Parent School Loan

By Cathy Moran

parent loan

  Take a good look at the result of the parent loan for college. Tied up, captive, grimacing. That’s what my client’s situation looks like to me: Mid sixties Kids just graduated Parents liable for $250,000 in loans If college makes the life of the kids, it stands to ruin the lives of the parents. […]

Filed Under: Featured Tagged With: 2016

Cheapskate’s Guide To Asset Protection

By Cathy Moran

protecting assets

We’ve been looking for ways to protect our possessions since the beginning of time. The tools change, but the goal is the same: defend what’s ours against others. Today, the whole asset protection industry is built on keeping your wealth and stiffing your creditors.  The gurus of asset protection, at least, get rich with elaborate schemes; […]

Filed Under: Featured Tagged With: 2016, asset protection

Financial Literacy Building Block: Compound Interest

By Cathy Moran

financial literacy building blocks

    Albert Einstein said compound interest is the 8th wonder of the world. Those who understand it, earn it.  He who doesn’t, pays it. In other word, it’s a double edged sword. Terrific if you’re earning it.  Debilitating if you’re paying it. And compound interest is a fundamental building block of personal financial literacy. […]

Filed Under: Featured, Student loans Tagged With: 2016

Will You Have Money For A Lifetime?

By Cathy Moran

financial literacy building blocks

The financially literate manage their money for the long haul so they have money for a lifetime. In a world of biweekly paychecks and monthly billing cycles, it’s easy to let your perspective shrink to 30 day increments. But that view is incredibly short-sighted. Your working life isn’t everything Most of us don’t work for […]

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: 2016

Find The Lost Tax Deduction When Lender Misreports Mortgage Interest Paid

By Cathy Moran

missing mortgage interest

How can you pay thousands of dollars in mortgage payments in a year, and get a  tax Form 1098 for a fraction of actual mortgage interest paid? That’s what my client wanted to know. His monthly mortgage payment is $2715.  The loan is currently interest only.  All the payments were made. And yet, the Form 1098 […]

Filed Under: Real property & mortgages, Taxes Tagged With: 2016

Surefire Ways To Tell Scammers From Private Tax Collectors

By Cathy Moran

tax collector

Private debt collectors are going back to work for the IRS.   You know those debt collectors:  the ones that generated the most complaints to the FTC this year? The ones that get a cut of what they collect?  The ones that aren’t subject to the same discipline as IRS employee? Those collectors. They’ll be […]

Filed Under: Consumer Rights Tagged With: 2016

6 Things You Need To Know About The California Homestead

By Cathy Moran

California homestead

California’s homestead exemption is the Super Hero of the exemption world. While other exemptions protect things worth a thousand dollars here and a couple of thousand there, the homestead protects big bucks.  Starting January 1, 2021, the homestead for every homeowner is at least $300,000 and as much as $600,000, depending on countywide home prices. […]

Filed Under: Strictly California Tagged With: 2016, exemption, homestead

When Chapter 20 Bankruptcy Adds Up

By Cathy Moran

looking for Chapter 20

You can look a long time in the Bankruptcy Code without finding Chapter 20. Chapter 7 is there;  so are Chapters 11 and 13.  But no 20. But you find it in bankruptcy courtrooms and in the arsenal of good bankruptcy lawyers. So, what’s up? Chapter 20 is really bankruptcy slang.  It’s a Chapter 7 case […]

Filed Under: How bankruptcy works Tagged With: 2016

Taxes: Building Block of Financial Literacy

By Cathy Moran

financial literacy building blocks

You’re a first time employee.  Congratulations. Welcome to the world of tax forms, withholding, and tax deadlines.   Taxes are the price we pay for civilization, according to Oliver Wendell Holmes. In fact, the first day on your new job you’ll be presented with an IRS form w-4. It’s like a rite of passage into adulthood. Even families […]

Filed Under: Consumer Rights, Taxes Tagged With: 2016

Your Creditors Lie In Wait For Your Kids

By Cathy Moran

creditor lurks to prey on heirs

Is your legacy to your kids an encounter with your unpaid creditors? Debt problems for those over 65 may not be problems for the elder at all.  Income and assets are largely protected by law from creditors. But that doesn’t trouble creditors:  they’ll simply wait and get their money from your kids. Seniors enjoy protection […]

Filed Under: Consumer Rights, Strictly California Tagged With: 2016, exemptions

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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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