• Home
  • Bankruptcy in Brief
  • ABC’s of Bankruptcy
  • Considering Bankruptcy
  • True Stories
  • Chapter 13
  • Blog
  • About
  • TOC

Northern California Bankruptcy Lawyer

On The Bankruptcy Soapbox

The Soap Box
  • How bankruptcy works
  • Mortgage Matters
  • Consumer Rights
  • You & Your Lawyer
  • Small Business
  • Family Law

Acing Bankruptcy’s Means Test For Those Over Median Income

By Cathy Moran

acing the means test

Your future living expenses may be the key to passing the bankruptcy means test. Those who are under median income for their state have already passed the means test. Those over median income move on to the expense portion of the test to calculate whether they have more than the allowed disposable income. Most often, […]

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

What looks bad to the trustee in prebankruptcy conduct

By Cathy Moran

before filing bankrutpcy

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 […]

Filed Under: How bankruptcy works Tagged With: 2024, 341, first meeting of creditors, spending before filing, trustee wants bank statements

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 money before you file? Do you imagine some authority figure deciding that your financial behavior in the run-up to bankrupcy bars you from relief? Take a deep breath. That’s not how it works. Let’s look at what matters and what […]

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

What Is The Bankruptcy Trustee Looking For

By Cathy Moran

bankruptcy trustee and bank statements

What’s the bankruptcy trustee looking for when you submit your bank statements before the 341 meeting? Let me tell you what the trustee isn’t looking for: trustees don’t care if you bought the premium brand of coffee; paid for your kid’s sports team; fixed broken appliances; went on vacation; or bought concert tickets. No part […]

Filed Under: Before You File, Featured Tagged With: 2024, bankruptcy process, spending

When Bankrupting The Business Doesn’t Protect The Owner

By Cathy Moran

“I want to file bankruptcy for my business, but I don’t need a personal bankruptcy”. I’ve had 2 such calls to my law office in just the last week. And in each case, bankrupting the business corporation will not solve the debt situation. Here’s why. The underlying problem is that the individual owner is personally […]

Filed Under: Featured, Small business Tagged With: 2024, business bankruptcy, going out of business, owner liability

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

Everyone gets the $1M + bankruptcy exemption

By Cathy Moran

IRA safe in bankruptcy

Bankruptcy exemptions vary from state to state, but everyone gets an exemption of ~$1.75 M for money in an IRA. It’s part of the Bankruptcy Code (section 522(n)) that applies to all filers, wherever they live. The exemption covers both classic, before-tax IRA’s and Roth IRA’s that are funded with after-tax dollars. Roll-overs into an […]

Filed Under: Featured Tagged With: 2024, exemptions, IRA, retirement

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

More Posts from this Category

643 Bair Island Road
Suite 403
Redwood City, CA 94063
Phone: (650) 694-4700
Phone: (650) 368-4700

Categories

All content copyright © Moran Law Group. All rights reserved.