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When you are watching every penny, you sit at home and make financial calculations in your mind while other people are out engaging in leisure pursuits, or so the influencers on YouTube would have you believe, then you try to spend your free time on income-generating activities, or at least on doing things that do…

If you are bummed out about the fact that everyone in California has been in a foul mood for as long as you can remember, count your blessings. Try driving a few states east to Utah or Texas, where the older generations have managed to impress upon their daughters, even in these turbulent times, that…

In a perfect world, no one would need to use credit cards, but a perfect world is so far away that you have already maxed out one credit card with grocery purchases and other expenses that no one would consider luxuries, and now you are running up the balance on at least one other card.…

How bad your finances are is, at least partially, a matter of perspective. Sure, you don’t have any money left at the end of the month to put into savings. If you are so optimistic that you transfer a percentage of your paycheck into savings every payday, then you end up transferring it back into…

After introductory quotes from texts in Latin, Classical Greek, and Italian, T.S. Eliot’s poem “The Wasteland” begins, “April is the cruellest month.” It is true that April is not especially cuddly, but all of the months are cruel these days. It is as if the financial death toll of the Christmas holidays never ends. Chances…

Last March, the US saw perhaps the most egregious violation of the automatic stay when a US Bankruptcy Judge in California, Judge Christopher Klein, summed up a debtor’s interaction with Bank of America as a “Kafkaesque nightmare.” In that case, Judge Klein described Bank of America’s actions, with respect to the Automatic Stay under the…

The Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution provides: “No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a grand jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the militia, when in actual service in time of war…

Government statistics regarding bankruptcy filings demonstrate an interesting trend. The trend shows a four-year downward direction and an overall downward trajectory. This table represents filings between 2014 and 2017: Year Total Bankruptcy Filings Business Bankruptcy Filings Consumer (Personal) Bankruptcy Filings 2017 796,037 23,443 772,594 2016 819,159 25,227 793,932 2015 879,736 25,046 854,690 2014 1,000,083 30,113…

There are features of Chapter 7 bankruptcy and Chapter 13 bankruptcy that are similar and some that are quite different. A significant similarity is the automatic stay under Section 362 of the United States Bankruptcy Code, or Code, wherein a bankruptcy filing stays, or stops, creditors from taking collection action against the debtor. When this…

Imagine that two people decide to join forces in a business venture. Person A, who owns a small construction firm, will join Person B, who is a wealthy investor, in trying to obtain exclusive construction contracts with various municipalities around Northern California. Both sides view this business venture as mutually beneficial. Person A will be…

America has a long history of people working the land. In the 1939 book “The Grapes of Wrath” by John Steinbeck portrays the Joads, a family living in the dustbowl in Oklahoma during the Great Depression. To get away from the rampant destitution in their home town, they decide to travel to California in search…

Financial stress can take a toll on relationships. Those in the Bay area may remember a time when, typically, the husband worked a 9-5 job while the wife stayed at home and took care of the children and the house. They would go on family outings on weekends year round. Women who worked often provided…

The Great Recession hit the United States hard. It especially hit the state of California, where one out of 88 houses were in some form of foreclosure. Banks faced an unprecedented number of foreclosures, while consumers saw their home values drop precipitously, with many home values going underwater. This created a frenzy amongst lenders while…

Imagine that a boy grows up watching lawyer shows like Perry Mason, L.A. Law, and Law and Order. He is intrigued by what lawyers do, especially trial lawyers. After years of watching, he is enamored. He has dreams of becoming a prosecutor or a defense attorney. He will appear before a judge and jury and…

People fall deep into debt for many reasons. It could be due to a loss of income, miscalculating future income, improper spending habits, or major life event. To provide a fresh start, the founding fathers created the bankruptcy clause in the Constitution. The bankruptcy concept was further developed over the years to include various chapters…