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Donald Trump is trying to dismantle the Dodd-Frank statute that was enacted in response to severe misconduct by the financial industry that caused the Great Recession.  Dismantling these protections from financial industry misconduct could cause another financial collapse and cause millions of people to have to file bankruptcy again. Call your congressperson now and demand […]

SB 308, A bill in the California Legislature, would allow debtors who need serious financial help to file bankruptcy without losing their homestead exemptions if they don’t reinvest the money in a new home within six months. As it stands now, California law requires that a homestead exemption be used to buy another home within […]

Are you behind (in default) on your student loans?  Are you unable to make your student loan payments because they are unaffordable? Are your wages being garnished because you are behind on your student loan payments?  Contrary to what most people believe, there is help available for student loan debt.  Federal loans, both direct and […]

If you are facing foreclosure, you may want to try getting a loan modification in order to lower your mortgage payments.  Our bankruptcy court in the San Francisco Bay Area started a loan modification program in August 2015, where your loan modification is overseen by the court.  This is a very good program that has […]

Some people have been unable to use bankruptcy to get out of debt because they have too much equity, usually in their homes, but sometimes in other assets.  SB 308 is a bill in the California legislature that will increase the amount of exemptions for things like your home.  SB 308 has two major provisions.  […]

Last week, the California Supreme Court handed down a ruling that might provide a little help for people facing foreclosure. The court held that it might be possible to successfully sue someone for money damages for foreclosing if they can’t prove that they own the loan. This was a very technical ruling, and my very […]

Are you unable to pay your mortgage because you can’t afford the payments, or because you’ve gotten behind on them and cannot afford to make them up while paying your mortgage?  If so, a loan modification may be your only chance to save your home.  Banks have made getting loan modifications rather difficult, but there […]

Wait a minute! How would filing bankruptcy be an investment in my future? The answer is that if you are not doing well now financially, it’s the perfect time to file bankruptcy in order to get rid of debts. If you owe debts that you cannot afford to pay but don’t have any wages that […]

The short answer is generally “yes.” When a married person consults with me as a bankruptcy attorney in my office in the Bay Area, sometimes they want to file bankruptcy under their name alone. They do NOT want to file with their spouse or include their spouse’s income. A common example is a second marriage […]

Many, if not most, people who have serious financial problems are embarrassed by those problems, but they are even more embarrassed by considering bankruptcy as a solution. However, you should not be embarrassed by using bankruptcy to fix your financial problems. It is completely understandable that you are embarrassed because you can’t pay your debts, […]