Waiting to file bankruptcy cost one of my clients over $30,000 in payments to his Chapter 13 plan.  Despite having discussed bankruptcy with me for several years, he put his head in the sand and waited until there was a wage garnishment crisis.  When the dust settled, the price of his Chapter 13 plan was [...]

I’m a fan of Chapter 13 and each time I pitch 13 to a client, I need to explain that though it is called a “repayment plan”, you’re likely repay only a fraction of your debt.
Here’s how your lawyer determines just how much you have to pay to the trustee for the life of your [...]

The impact on your credit score is the same for a short sale, a deed in lieu, or a foreclosure, a Fair Isaacs representative told bankruptcy lawyers at this weekend’s seminar. It is, he said, the 120 day late payments, which he presumed underlay each of these alternatives, that damages the FICO score. [...]

Don’t overlook payments your Chapter 13 trustee has made in your case last year when preparing your 2007 tax return. Lurking in the list of creditors being paid by the trustee may well be tax deductions to which you are entitled.
My analysis says that payments the trustee makes as your agent according to a [...]

The IRS has become more aggressive in the Northern District of California in bringing motions to dismiss otherwise performing Chapter 13 cases where the debtor has failed to pay taxes that came due after filing.
The premise of Chapter 13 is that the debtor gets protection from his pre filing creditors, and pays them from his [...]

For every subprime loan, made to a borrower who could never realistically hope to repay the debt, there is a mortgage broker with a license from the state. The states must investigate how supposed professionals urged on their clients ruinous loans that have lead to the foreclosure explosion.
As we watch waves of foreclosures, investigation [...]

The 9th Circuit Bankruptcy Appellate Panel has just decided Ransom, holding that a debtor cannot take an ownership allowance with respect to a car that is lien free.
Like so much of the poorly written BAPCPA, the means test provision for an “ownership allowance” has been subject to contrary court decisions.  The issue is whether a [...]

Regardless of your age today, someday you will want to retire.  Further, you want that retirement to be comfortable and stress free.  So, what have you saved to make that retirement happen?  More than 30% of Americans have saved less than $25,000 for retirement.
To my mind, the needs of retirement are one of the most [...]

How spouses hold title to their home has far broader implications than the stepped up tax basis at death noted by The Consumerist. The post noted correctly that a house held in community property gets a step-up in basis on both the decedent’s half and the surviving spouse’s half of the property when one [...]

The literature on starting a business is endless; advice on going out of business scant. Here are some thoughts on what to do when you’ve made the painful decision to shut down: my checklist of tasks when ownership has decided to close a business without a bankruptcy.
If you liked that post, then try these…Where Do [...]