How do you ignore a lawsuit and expect a good outcome? Yet twice in the past few months, individuals have come to me with judgments already entered against them. That’s not noteworthy; after all, I’m a bankruptcy lawyer. We deal with unpaid judgments. But both of these men explained the situation this way: the claims […]
What You Left Out Of Your Bankruptcy Schedules
One of the first questions a bankruptcy trustee will ask you at the hearing in your bankruptcy case is: did you read the schedules before you signed them? The obvious, and expected, answer is YES. And if your answer is “yes”, then the trustee can conclude that you stand behind the information that the schedules […]
Save The House Even AFTER The Foreclosure Sale
The fall of the hammer at the foreclosure sale threatened to leave my widowed client homeless and poorer by hundreds of thousands of dollars. Instead, we recovered her house from the foreclosure sale under new California law which delays the finality of the change of title. She had rights after foreclosure. The prompt filing of […]
How Long Does Bankruptcy Take?
Every client filing bankruptcy asks that question: how long will bankruptcy take? Probably, the real question is “when will this be over?” Like so many questions in the law, the answer is “it depends.” From filing bankruptcy to discharge In a Chapter 7, filing to discharge is about four months; in Chapter 13 it’s three […]
Do I qualify for bankruptcy in the Bay Area?
The higher-than-average wages in the Bay Area don’t disqualify you from bankruptcy, despite rampant misinformation about the bankruptcy means test. The means test, added to bankruptcy law in 2005, was (poorly) designed to keep above-average earners out of bankruptcy. But it hasn’t worked in the Bay Area, largely because of the cost of housing here. […]
When You Can’t Pay The EIDL Loan
The COVID-era EIDL loans are coming due. But just because the pandemic is over doesn’t mean that business has returned to normal. Prepandemic, normal may have been difficult too. If yours is one of the many businesses can’t bear the additional stress of repaying EIDL loans, here’s what you need to know. What are EIDL […]
You Keep Underwater Property in Bankruptcy
Good news or bad news, the bankruptcy trustee doesn’t want your underwater property. Trustees only want the good stuff, the assets that generate cash to pay creditors. That doesn’t include real estate where the debt is on par with the property’s fair market value. Will we have to sell? My clients this week own a […]
What Happens To Your Bank Account in Chapter 13
Those considering filing a Chapter 13 bankruptcy worry about “what happens to my bank account?” Will the trustee take all the money? How do I pay my living expenses after I file? The short answer is: nothing changes. The account remains yours and available for all the expenses of day to day living. Because, in […]
The Secret Bankruptcy Discharge For Community Property
Psst! Let me tell you a secret about bankruptcy law. You can get 3/4 of the benefits of a bankruptcy discharge without ever going near a bankruptcy court if you are a married person in California, or any other community property state. If your spouse files bankruptcy and you don’t join in, you still reap much […]
Bankruptcy Can Rewrite The Divorce Property Division
The assets were divided in the divorce. The divorce was over. The house would go to Him, and he would pay Her $75,000 on stated terms. It was the end of a miserable stretch in their lives. Only it wasn’t. Before anyone recorded the judgment of dissolution (that’s Californian for “divorce”) laying out the division […]
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