California has been a community property state since 1850, and still we struggle to understand which spouse is liable for debts. So here, broad brush, is a guide to the legal liability of spouses, ex spouses, registered domestic partners and their community property for debt. Because, as I’ve written, the community is a third “party” […]
California’s New Exemptions For Money In The Bank
California has finally created a state law exemption for cash in the bank. Californians filing bankruptcy no longer face loss of all the funds in their bank accounts when they choose California’s generous homestead, thanks to changes in exemption law. Two exemption statutes , new in 2020 , provide protection for cash in the bank […]
Title Isn’t Everything: Watch Out For The Assets In Your Spouse’s Name
Your spouse’s assets can get swept up in your bankruptcy when you live in California. Because, most likely, just holding an asset in the name of one spouse doesn’t defeat the community property presumption. I saw it play out in a first meeting of creditors when the bankruptcy trustee asked about an asset. But it’s […]
Save The House Even AFTER The Foreclosure Sale
The fall of the hammer at the foreclosure sale threatened to leave my widowed client homeless and poorer by hundreds of thousands of dollars. Instead, we recovered her house from the foreclosure sale under new California law which delays the finality of the change of title. She had rights after foreclosure. The prompt filing of […]
Do California Seniors Need to File Bankruptcy?
California, it turns out, is a great place to retire. Not because of the cost of living, certainly. It’s great in spite of the cost of living. Because California exemptions are very generous to those of retirement age. Those exemptions effectively make many indebted seniors collection-proof. Bankruptcy for those seniors may seem unnecessary. How exemptions protect […]
No More Lawsuits On Old Debt In California
California law has turned the tables on debt buyers suing on old debt. Under new California law, a creditor must allege that the statute of limitations has not run when it files a lawsuit. No more suing on long-dead debt and winning unless the consumer files an answer and pleads the statute of limitations. No […]
Whopping exemption for CA 529 college accounts
A substantial new California exemption snuck into law in 2021, the college savings account exemption. It protects 529 college savings accounts from the creditors of parents. The exemption applies in all California collections and to California bankruptcies when the CCP 704 exemptions are selected. The eyeopener is that a parent (or other donor) can contribute […]
Do You Need To Reaffirm Your Home Loan After Bankruptcy?
Banks, most especially Wells Fargo, seem to relish denying refinance applications for debtors who didn’t reaffirm home mortgage in bankruptcy. You didn’t reaffirm your existing home loan, so we can’t refinance that debt, they chortle. Sometimes, the dig is even more painful (to me at least): your attorney didn’t do this right so you are […]
What Debts Were Discharged In My Bankruptcy?
After your bankruptcy, one of the hardest questions is figuring out just which debts were discharged. Eliminating debts was the whole point of filing bankruptcy. You’ve got a court order, but no list. You and your creditors understandably expect to find a single document telling them what debts are no longer enforceable and which survive the bankruptcy. No such […]
