Discharging Student Loans Just Got Easier The Biden Administration recently announced new guidance for the Department of Justice for handling Federal Student Loans in Bankruptcy. This guidance will likely make it easier for Debtors in bankruptcy to discharge federal student loans. Prior to this guidance being issued the guidelines for meeting the requirements to discharge […]
Can My Bank Take My Money Without Permission?
The short answer is YES under the right of setoff if you owe that same bank or credit union on a credit card or loan. When you have a savings or checking account with a bank or credit union it is very common to apply for credit cards or loans with that same financial institution […]
How Can a Creditor Levy Your Bank Account in California
It’s true: once a creditor gets a judgment against you it can take money out or your bank, credit union, or other financial institution account to pay that judgment. This blog post gets into what exactly a judgment creditor can do to levy your accounts, and what you can do to stop it. HOW CAN […]
What Happens When You Don’t Respond to a California Collection Lawsuit?
Getting lawsuit papers can be scary. A process server, or sometimes a sheriff’s deputy, may show up at the door of your home and insist on personally handing you the papers. Or this might happen at your place of work or business. It could even happen as you’re simply walking down the street. (See Service […]
Bankruptcy Limits For California Homestead Exemption
At the beginning of this year (2021) the amount of home equity a California homeowner can protect from his or her creditors greatly increased. See our blog post, Huge Increase in California Homestead Exemption, about this. This new greater protection of home equity makes understanding the federal Bankruptcy Code’s limitations on homestead exemptions all the […]
California’s Homestead Exemption- Are You Required to Reside in the Home?
The California Homestead Exemption’s Requirements of Residing in the Home and Intending to Continue Doing So The California homestead exemption amount’s huge increase at the beginning of 2021 has made it all the more important to understand when the exemption does apply to a home and when it does not. A number of practical issues […]
The Truth about Bankruptcy and Your Credit Report
How does filing bankruptcy affect your credit report? To answer this we need to understand 1) some facts and 2) how those facts apply to your life. To give you an idea where this is going, the truth is that it depends on your situation. But if you’re like many people with challenging finances, filing […]
Protecting California Workers’ Compensation in Bankruptcy
How can you protect your California Workers’ Compensation in bankruptcy? You’re hurting financially and thinking about filing bankruptcy. Let’s assume a big part of the reason you’re in financial trouble is that you were hurt at work. You either have a workers’ compensation claim pending or it’s been resolved and you’re getting benefits. You want […]
New Huge Increase in California Homestead Exemption
Huge Increase in California Homestead Exemption The homestead exemption protects a specific dollar amount of a homeowner’s home equity from his or her creditors. In California, the California homestead exemption amount of protection is substantially increasing as of January 1, 2021. This increase in protection makes it much more likely that homeowners in financial difficulty […]
Does Filing Bankruptcy Stop a Rental Eviction?
Filing for bankruptcy can slow down or stop an eviction process. It is important that you file bankruptcy prior to a judgment for eviction being entered.
The Domestic Relations Exceptions to the Automatic Stay
The automatic stay protects you from collection actions from most debts but it does not stop criminal proceedings, tax assessments, and governments police and regulatory powers.
Family Court Exceptions to the Automatic Stay
How does the automatic stay affect child support, alimony and divorce? The automatic stay can protect you from collection of past due child support in a Chapter 13.