In the tug o war of which creditor to pay, why is it that credit cards win over taxes and child support? I’m accustomed to clients who pay creditors rather than provide for their own health care, emergency fund, or retirement. That’s taking care of commitments to others before self. But I haven’t figured out […]
Protecting Your Co signor When You Can’t Pay
Cosigning a loan links you and your cosignor together for the life of the debt. If you get in financial trouble, your troubles are your co signor’s troubles too. If you can’t pay your debts, the standard bankruptcy discharge will get rid of your debt, but it doesn’t help your co signor. Even while you […]
4 Rules For Testifying At Your Bankruptcy Hearing
Going to court for your first meeting of creditors? What are they going to ask me?, you wonder. My bankruptcy clients imagine a quiz on the contents of their bankruptcy papers. Or worse, an inquisition on why they needed to file bankruptcy. That’s not likely. The first meeting of creditors is much more likely to […]
California Homestead Grows With Inflation: Calculating The Homestead Increase
Calculating California’s homestead reveals the homestead in 2022 is now capped at $626,400. That’s even more generous than the originally enacted $600,000. And it will change next year. To calculated the current homestead exemption, you need an armful of data (and a bit of math). Because, the new law provided not only for a bigger […]
What To Disclose In Bankruptcy Papers
If the headline drew you in, like the Geico gecko, you can complain you’ve been duped. There’s no decision involved: in bankruptcy papers, you disclose everything. Period. Disclosure is the price of the bankruptcy discharge. Shortchange the system by leaving out inconvenient facts and you risk both the omitted asset and the discharge. Understand the […]
Bankruptcy And Divorce Collide: The Threatened Filing
My soon-to-be ex threatens to file a bankruptcy tomorrow and get me kicked out of the house. The frantic voice on the phone wanted to know whether he could do that in California. Or better, how he could be stopped from upsetting the pending divorce through the bankruptcy courts. Welcome to the volatile collision between bankruptcy and […]
Bankruptcy and “Ruining your credit score”
No matter how precarious their financial situation, almost every client I meet thinks bankruptcy will ruin their credit score. Not only ruin it, but damage it for all time, precluding normal life after bankruptcy. Some resolve to stagger along, burdened with their debt and the fear of escaping debt. So, my encounter with a financial […]
New Bankruptcy Trends From An Old Hand
I’m seeing a real change in the people seeing me about filing bankruptcy. Used to be, the problem was credit card debt, unemployment, or divorce. A surprising trend over the past six months is developing. I acknowledge the sample size is small. Statistically, you can challenge the significance, but here are the trends. My office is […]
What Happens To My Stuff In Different Bankruptcy Chapters
Will it be Chapter 7 v. 13? After you’ve made the decision to get a fresh start, you need to choose a bankruptcy chapter, usually Chapter 7 or Chapter 13. The choice of chapter is complex, involving many interconnected factors. Here we’re going to compare just the treatment of different kinds of assets in Chapter […]
When Giving Isn’t Good
When you owe money to others, you are not free to give assets away. Or retitle them. Or put them in an irrevocable trust. That’s the universal principle of Anglo-Saxon law that prohibits fraudulent transfers. But the concept of a gift being wrong in the law is among the most difficult for ordinary folks to […]
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