In my bankruptcy alphabet, L is for the Life you can get back when you get rid of your debts. My bankruptcy clients are often simply consumed by managing their debts. There is no room for rest, savings, dreaming. Life has become the struggle to make the next round of payments. L could also be […]
Last Call For Loan Modifications Under HAMP
If your house is teetering on the edge of foreclosure, the time to act has a deadline. HAMP, the government program incentivizing home loan modifications, ends in 2016. To qualify for HAMP, you must submit a complete Initial Application Package by December 30, 2016. That package must include: A RMA form which includes a required hardship […]
How To Spot A Fake IRS Officer
Identity thieves are now posing as “helpful” folks from the IRS. These scammers email you with the disturbing news that your tax return has been flagged for further examination. Posing as representing the IRS Taxpayer Advocate Service, they offer help in “resolving” the problem, if you’ll just click a link and provide them information. They […]
Staying Out Of Bankruptcy Trustee’s Crosshairs
Clients who want the benefits of bankruptcy without any change in the way they want to live life have been the theme of my practice lately. This seems to come out when we do a Schedule J budget in a Chapter 13: they want $300/month in recreation, $1400 in food, and $300 in clothing. While […]
Your Rights When Your Home Is Foreclosed
The foreclosure sale is over and the bank now owns the home. You’re now living in someone else’s property. What next? If you were the homeowner in California, here are your choices after the foreclosure: Your rights before the foreclosure sale
Social Security Safe In Bankruptcy
The Chapter 13 trustee objected to the debtors’ repayment plan because they did not plan to devote their Social Security income to repaying creditors. And, he complained, they proposed to keep and pay for vehicles that are luxury items. The plan is not proposed in good faith, he claimed, as required by the Bankruptcy Code. The […]
Melania Trump Sold The American Dream Short
The infamous Melania Trump speech at the Republican convention shared more than a paragraph or so with Michelle Obama. It shared Michelle’s aspirational thought that in America, any child with hard work and perseverance can succeed. “The only limit to your achievements is the strength of your dreams and your willingness to work hard for […]
File Bankruptcy All Alone: No Spouse Required
We’re so used to thinking about married folk as a couple, rather than as two individuals: George and Gracie; Bill and Hillary; John and Abigail. The Bankruptcy Code feeds that perception when it allows a married couple to file a joint case. Two people, one set of papers, one filing fee. But while filing together […]
Dead Debts Haunt Home Purchase
Eternal vigilance is the price of freedom. It’s also the price of freedom from old debts, as my former bankruptcy client learned. He was about to close escrow on a new home a couple of years after his discharge. But the sale came to a screaming halt when an old, discharged debt reappeared on his […]
Why Creditors Should Get Less in Chapter 13
Spending every dollar they make, and then some, is often how our Chapter 13 clients got into financial trouble. Yet Chapter 13, as practiced, validates the practice of continuing to spend 100% of each month’s income during the life of the plan. In doing so, we, as a society, squander the chance to use Chapter […]
