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When Is The Time Right To File Bankruptcy

By Cathy Moran

time to file bankruptcy

Just like stand-up comedy and batting in baseball, filing bankruptcy is all about timing. Timing your bankruptcy filing is no different. File bankruptcy too early, or too late, and you risk losing assets or advantages that better timing could have assured. Admittedly, you don’t always have the luxury of filing bankruptcy on your own schedule. […]

Filed Under: Considering Bankruptcy, Featured Tagged With: 2020, when to file bankruptcy

Life And Death of Debt In California

By Cathy Moran

statute of limitations on debt

CPR has its place when human life is involved. Human life is precious. But when what’s dying is the legal right to collect a debt?   Not so fast. You don’t want to breathe new life into an old debt that is legally dead. Yet you can do that, unintentionally reviving a debt that is legally […]

Filed Under: Debt Collection Rights, Featured Tagged With: 2018

Considering Going Out Of Business?

By Cathy Moran

ailing business

When the virus shutdown is over, ailing businesses must consider whether to continue.

Filed Under: Featured, Small business Tagged With: 2020, covid-19

Your Right To Credit Reporting After Bankruptcy

By Cathy Moran

credit report after bankruptcy

You’ve finished your Chapter 13 and emerged from bankruptcy with your home loan current. But your credit report is a blank page as to your mortgage. The mortgage servicer isn’t reporting your payments to the credit reporting agencies [CRA’s].   Nothing. Nada.  Crickets. So, even though you’re making regular payments, you’re not visibly rebuilding your credit. […]

Filed Under: Featured, Life after bankruptcy Tagged With: 2017, credit reporting

Dumbest Thing For Those In Debt

By Cathy Moran

dealing with debt

The headline was compelling:  The 5 Dumbest Things You Can Do If You Have Too Much Debt. I even liked the site’s name:  How Life Works.  That’s a tagline I’d like to use. I could make my own list of dumb ways to tackle debt, but better if someone else had already done it. Until […]

Filed Under: Considering Bankruptcy, Featured

Is There Life After Bankruptcy?

By Cathy Moran

frequently asked questions

Is bankruptcy worth it? If you see filing bankruptcy to get a fresh start as painful or less than honorable, you might wonder what life is like, on the other side of bankruptcy. What’s the return on taking the big step? I got a report from the other side this week from a Chapter 7 […]

Filed Under: Considering Bankruptcy, Featured, Life after bankruptcy, True Stories

Find The Hidden Mortgage Interest Tax Deduction In Bankruptcy

By Cathy Moran

MORTAGE INTEREST DEDUCTION

Is your Chapter 13 plan  paying back mortgage payments that were delinquent when you filed bankruptcy? If so, a mortgage interest tax deduction lurks, unclaimed, in the trustee’s records. Track down that tax deduction, add it to your tax return, and you reduce your federal income tax burden. But it’s difficult because, for reasons I […]

Filed Under: Chapter 13, Featured, Taxes Tagged With: 2017, tax deductions

Tax Deductions Hidden In Chapter 13

By Cathy Moran

tax deductions

Don’t miss the tax deductions hiding in your Chapter 13 bankruptcy. The same, very important debts that your Chapter 13 plan pays are often tax deductible. And you are still the person who’s paying, even if the trustee writes the check. Don’t miss out on those deductions. Tax deductions in bankruptcy Let’s look at some […]

Filed Under: Chapter 13, Featured, Taxes

Californians Can Now Keep Their Cars After Bankruptcy Without Reaffirmation

By Cathy Moran

bankruptcy reaffirmation

New California law, effective January 1, 2023, eliminates the need for bankruptcy debtors to reaffirm car loans in order to avoid repossession. Now, you can keep your car after bankruptcy, so long as you keep the payments current, without reaffirming the debt. Until now, reaffirmation had the effect of giving up the discharge as to […]

Filed Under: Featured, Strictly California Tagged With: 2023, bankruptcy, Car, car loan, reaffirmation

Does Bankruptcy Bar Retirement Savings?

By Cathy Moran

retirement contributions

Ongoing retirement saving by Chapter 13 debtors has been a touchy subject since the means test became a part of the bankruptcy scene. The means test was intended to squeeze every available dollar from consumer debtors. It works by limiting the expenses that can be deducted from income in figuring what a debtor can/must pay […]

Filed Under: Chapter 13, Featured Tagged With: 2020, means test, retirement

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Bankruptcy Basics

About The Soapbox

You’ve arrived at the Bankruptcy Soapbox, a resource of bankruptcy information and consumer law.

Soapbox is a companion site to Bankruptcy in Brief, where I try to be largely explanatory and even handed (Note I said “try”).

Here, I allow myself to tell stories and express strong opinions. We dig deeper into how to consider bankruptcy and navigate a bankruptcy case.

Moran Law Group
Bankruptcy specialists for individuals and small businesses in the San Francisco Bay Area

How Bankruptcy Works

Everyone gets $1M + bankruptcy exemption

Bankruptcy exemptions vary from state to state, but everyone gets an exemption of ~$1.75 M for money in an IRA. It's part of the Bankruptcy Code (section 522(n)) that applies to all filers, wherever they live. The exemption covers both classic, before-tax IRA's and Roth IRA's that are funded with after-tax dollars. … Read more

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