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 […]
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, […]
SuperLawyer
I’ve been named a SuperLawyer among Bay Area bankruptcy lawyers. That makes 14 years running. It’s flattering, but probably not much more than that. The real measure of my skills is in the clients’ lives whom I’ve impacted and the young bankruptcy lawyers I’ve mentored. In the meantime, I’m waiting for my cape to be […]
The Truth About Tax Liens After Bankruptcy
We have a lien on your name. Not your property, your name. That’s what the county tax collector told my client, years after he got his bankruptcy discharge. And that multi-thousand dollar lien claim threatened to sink the refinance of his house. Eventually, we got the county straightened out without going back to bankruptcy court. […]
Reduce Your Tax Hit By Filing Bankruptcy Rather Than Settling Debts
Settle your debts outside of bankruptcy and you may be bitten by taxes you didn’t expect years later. Yet, everyone I talk to would rather cut a deal with their creditors than file bankruptcy. It’s universal. But here’s the killer reason why bankruptcy alone protects homeowners from a unexpected tax consequence down the road. Debt […]
The Causes of Bankruptcy Aren’t What You Think
The columnist who equated debt problems with irresponsibility nearly caused me to melt down, right in my law office. Irresponsibility, he said! The idea that people who find themselves with bills they can’t pay got in that mess through flighty behavior or self absorption is sooooo wrong. The real causes of bankruptcy Mindless spending is […]
Bankruptcy Debtors Entitled To Monthly Mortgage Statements
Servicers must now send monthly mortgage statements to borrowers in bankruptcy under a new CFPB rule effective April, 2018. Thus ends, we hope, years of uncertainty and indifference, rooted in the automatic stay and a homeowner’s ongoing obligation on their mortgage after bankruptcy. The earlier version of the rule, adopted in 2014, allowed servicers […]
Free Tax Preparation Offered In Bay Area
Households with an annual income of $54,000 or less can have their tax returns prepared for free through the Bay Area United Way’s Earn It, Keep It, Save It program. Earned Income Tax Credit The Earn It, Keep It, Save It campaign is particularly focused on enabling qualifying individuals and families to access this tax […]
Automatic Stay Has Exceptions: It Doesn’t Stop Everything
The automatic stay is the signature feature of American bankruptcy, but the stay has important exceptions. Just by filing a bankruptcy case, a federal court injunction instantly prohibits your creditors from actions to collect a debt from you or your assets. But, there’s a whole list of actions that aren’t included in the stay. We […]
Chapter 13 Discharges HOA Debt
Condo fees that come due after a Chapter 13 bankruptcy is filed are discharged at the conclusion of the case. In a victory for condo owners, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the more expansive Chapter 13 discharge trumped a bankruptcy statute sticking condo owners with the fees. Or really, this is a […]
