Chapter 7

I was just talking with a friend of mine the other day, Damon Day; and he was mentioning that he is seeing more and more folks all across the country, who have attended these unaccredited schools and carrying an enormous amount of student debt.  I mentioned to him that I’ve already been in the bankruptcy […]

Taking a trip is exciting. You have a staring place [“Point A”] and a destination [“Point B”]. Along the way, is the “journey.” Getting from Point A to Point B is simple when it’s a road trip because we look at a map, or nowadays, we’ll just plug in our destination into our GPS system, […]

Getting rid of those pesky, overwhelming student loans in bankruptcy just got a bit easier, thanks to a case in which an attorney won a bid to shed $250,000 in student debt. The case is In re Barrett, No. 14-43516; Barrett v. U.S. Department of Education Direct Loan Servicing Center et al., Adv. No. 14-4161, […]

Today we’re going to play a game that I love.  Negotiations with debt collectors! Also known as debt settlement. In the recent Los Angeles Times article, Making a Deal with Debt Collectors, by Liz Weston, she provides such a shallow and generic approach that I am immediately propelled into blog writing mode.  This article is […]

Even though private student loans make up a fraction of the overall student loan debt in the United States, they pose a threat to our future economy for several reasons. First, nearly all of these loans are co-signed, which means we have multiple borrowers that have taken responsibility for repayment.  I’ve seen parents, in-laws, ex-spouses […]

New Bankruptcy Forms are overwhelming. Here in the Central District of California, nearly 25% of all bankruptcy filings are made without a lawyer.  Things recently got a little bit easier for this crowd in our courts; allegedly.  This is an important issue with our courts as demonstrated by this open letter to our attorneys to […]

If you are married and considering Chapter 7 or Chapter 13 bankruptcy, you have additional issues to think about. To start, you’ll have to decide which option works best for you: filing a joint bankruptcy or an individual bankruptcy petition. For most couples, joint bankruptcy will protect more of your property and discharge more debts. […]

Here’s a question posted recently over at AVVO.com.: “We had a Chapter 7 bankruptcy discharged two(2) years ago. We have a second mortgage that we haven’t paid on in 2.5 years that has a $95,000 balance. We have not had any communication with the lender. Would like to know what our options are and the […]

Observing an “emerging consensus in this Circuit” that lien stripping can be accomplished through Chapter 13 Plan Completion, the court in Litton Loan Servicing, et al v. Robert Blendheim, et. al, In re Blendheim, Nos. 13-35354, 13-35412, U.S. Court of Appeals For the Ninth Circuit, 2015. You can watch oral arguments here. So, what do […]

My husband is at it again; writing blog articles for me that is. Here are his thoughts on retirement planning and bankrutpcy: It surprises me that many people are not as concerned as retirement as I am. I guess my “normal” is just not quite aligned with other people’s “normal”.  I recently heard of a […]