I team up with consumer lawyer Mike Cardoza to identify your rights against debt collectors and then to preserve those claims through bankruptcy. The longer you resisted filing bankruptcy, the more likely that you’ve endured harassing encounters with debt collectors. And the more encounters you have with debt collectors, the more likely that you’ve been […]
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 […]
Debt Limits Increase For Chapter 13 Bankruptcy
Debt limits to swell to $2.75M under new legislation Legislation signed in June, 2022 raised the debt cap in Chapter 13 to $2.75M without regard to whether the debt is secured or unsecured. In the Bay Area with its eyepopping mortgage balances, that will mean more families will be eligible to file Chapter 13. The […]
California Exemptions Increase for 2022
The triennial adjustment of California exemption amounts becomes effective April 1. And it’s no joke. The new exemption numbers will protect more value in cash and assets necessary for everyday living. Exemptions define the assets that are safe from creditors in bankruptcy. The CCP 704 exemptions are also available outside of bankruptcy when judgment creditors […]
What happens in Vegas…
May make you a felon. Funny, the Las Vegas PR doesn’t mention criminal prosecution for unpaid gambling markers. Yet Nevada treats gambling markers like negotiable instruments (i.e. checks). Failure to satisfy a marker within 30 days can lead to criminal charges. Gambling debts gone in bankruptcy Most bankruptcy courts have held that gambling debts are […]
- « Previous Page
- 1
- …
- 23
- 24
- 25
- 26
- 27
- …
- 71
- Next Page »
