Tax season saw a 400% rise in fake email to taxpayers pretending to be from the IRS. The scammers want you to click a link, give them information, or otherwise open yourself to identity theft. Identity theft and the diversion of tax refunds is the number one tax scam. Fake email is third. Protect yourself as […]
Bankruptcy Alphabet: B Is For Business
Business is my bankruptcy “B’ word. Business debt of the individual filing bankruptcy is dischargeable just as other personal debt. In Silicon Valley, the very innovation and risk taking that makes the Valley vibrant brings with it the risks of not making it in the marketplace. Bankruptcy can be the “do over” vehicle, freeing manpower and […]
Is A Free Bankruptcy Consultation Worth It?
No matter how much they’ve spent on other stuff, those shopping for a bankruptcy lawyer seem to expect a free consultation. “Everyone else offers a free consultation” I’m told. Not me: I don’t do “free”. But I’ve come to doubt what other bankruptcy attorneys offer is really a free consultation. Oh, it may be free, […]
The Most Costly Community Property Blunder
What do you do when creditors from your spouse’s past threaten? Chances are your first reaction is to put the title to your biggest assets in just your name. Whew! Safe. Not. Just because the deed to the house now reads Jane Doe instead of John Doe and Jane Doe it’s easy to think the house is Jane’s separate […]
10 Tips To Help You Keep Your House
When financial trouble rears its head, keeping the house becomes a number one priority. Whether the pinch is caused by loss of income, a loan that resets, or business slow down, you can find making the mortgage payments a challenge. Not to mention sorting out escrow screwups and changes of servicers. So, we’re rounding up […]
The Secret Bankruptcy Exemptions
Exemptions in bankruptcy are all about what you keep. Exemptions define the collection of assets and rights that are safe from the reach of a bankruptcy trustee or your creditors. But planning exemptions in a bankruptcy case is more than just the looking down the list of things you keep through bankruptcy and the dollar amount […]
How to Screw Up Your Bankruptcy
Transferring assets to others on the eve of bankruptcy is the single, easiest way to mess up your bankruptcy case. Everyone seems to think If an asset isn’t titled to you, it does not have to be disclosed in a bankruptcy filing. I hear it and see it in action, again and again. If it […]
Chapter 13 Fixes Tax Trouble
Tax troubles become manageable in Chapter 13 bankruptcy. 13 offers powerful alternatives to fighting with the IRS. Or hiding from the IRS. When you’ve got tax troubles, it’s easy to feel powerless. After all, you’re confronting a federal agency who wrote the tax rules. And they have hordes of employees with nothing else to do. […]
California Homestead Exemption: The Truth Isn’t What You Think
“They can’t take my house, whatever happens. Right?” The young man in my office “knew” how the California homestead works: he insisted that his home was exempt as a California homestead, even if he filed bankruptcy. He “knew” that credit card debt was dischargeable. And that “knowledge” lead to his conviction that , in bankruptcy, […]
Mortgage Forbearance And The Hidden Gotcha: Escrow
Got a mortgage forbearance? Seems like a relief. But watch out for the normally escrowed taxes after the forbearance is up. The CARES Act made forbearance on federally backed mortgages available for the asking. But no one talked about the escrow portion of the skipped mortgage payments. Federal guidance urged servicers to offer easy ways […]
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