When you file a Riverside bankruptcy, what kinds of debts are dischargeable under the Bankruptcy Code? Credit card debts are usually discharged in bankruptcy. However, this should be taken as a general statement only. Taxes paid through credit cards are usually not dischargeable in bankruptcy. But, we know that taxes may be paid through credit cards. In fact, this kind of payment is encouraged by state and federal governments. So what do we do?

Why is a credit card debt used to pay taxes not dischargeable in bankruptcy? As a Riverside bankruptcy lawyer specializing in Chapter 13 cases, I have encountered several legal opinions holding that it is considered fraud to incur a credit card debt without the present intent to repay the debt. Several courts have ruled that Section 523(a)(2) of the Bankruptcy Code, an exception to the discharge for money obtained by false pretenses or fraud, applies to credit card purchases made without the intent to repay them. So, depending on the timing of your tax payment, in conjunction with your financial situation, the trustee may consider the tax payment fraudulent.

In 2005, the Legislature passed two laws to protect credit card companies, specifically noting these kinds of situations. When a credit card is used to pay a tax that is non-dischargeable, Sections 523(a)(14) and 523(a)(14A) protect the creditor from discharge of the debt in bankruptcy. Under the 2005 laws, use of a credit card to pay taxes may make the taxes dischargeable with the passage of time, into a debt that never becomes dischargeable.

Given these new laws, it may not be a good idea to pay taxes using credit cards. Personal income tax that is due for recent years is considered a priority and is not dischargeable under the bankruptcy code. While the tax would become dischargeable in two or three years, if not paid, the credit card debt used to pay it would not.

Attorneys are of the opinion that if you are considering a Riverside Chapter 7 or 13 bankruptcy in the near future, it is best to start minimizing the use of your credit cards now.

A Riverside bankruptcy is composed of inter-related laws and rules. The award-winning lawyers at The Law Office of Harold D. Thompson have helped thousands of people, just like you, get the fresh start they deserve. Don’t let another day go by giving your hard earned money to creditors. Please call our office at 888.558.2992 for a free-no hassle consultation, download a copy of our free California Guide to Bankruptcy or find out how you can become a client right now.

Filing for bankruptcy in Corona is not an easy task. Aside from the emotional burden and the stigma attached to one who has filed for Riverside bankruptcy, there are many requirements provided by laws and statutes for a debtor to obtain a discharge of his debts. Lehman Brothers had a whole team of lawyers, law experts, and financial advisors who helped it file for bankruptcy and who advised the company on the required actions for debtors. Individual debtors contemplating for bankruptcy must also be appropriately advised and prepared. Adequate preparation can help the debtor save a lot of money. You must consult a bankruptcy lawyer in Corona to see what bankruptcy chapter is right for you.

One of the requirements of a financially-distressed individual who is contemplating on filing a Chapter7 or 13 case in Corona, CA is the mandatory financial management course. Debtors are required to take two financial counseling courses — one prior to filing and the second after filing. The fee for a financial management course is $35 and may take an hour or two to complete. Although some of my clients in my years as a Corona bankruptcy attorney forego these counseling requirements, I would always advise them that completing these courses is the best way to obtain a discharge of debts. Skipping these courses may make a huge difference in the disposition of your case and may cost a debtor much more money than the $35 fee. Your Riverside bankruptcy attorney will guide you through the process.

Bankruptcy filing and preparation for bankruptcy filing needs assistance from highly skilled lawyers. The award-winning lawyers at The Law Office of Harold D. Thompson are some of the best in their field and will help clients and prospective clients from preparation to completion. Since 1976 our team of bankruptcy attorneys have helped thousands of individuals in Corona, Riverside and all over Southern California get the fresh start they deserve. Please call our office at 888.558.2992 for a free-no hassle consultation, download a copy of our free California Guide to Bankruptcy or find out how you can become a client right now.

As a Riverside bankruptcy lawyer a lot of my clients are homeowners. Most of them were hardworking people who became victims of the subprime mortgage crisis and are now facing foreclosure proceedings. Of course, they want to know how to stop a Riverside foreclosure.

Mortgage companies and banks who received funds from the Troubled Asset Relief Program are required to extend a Home Affordable Modification Program to any qualified homeowner. The HAMP is usually available to those that are not unemployed but are struggling to make their mortgage payments. HAMP can lower a homeowner’s monthly mortgage payment to 31% of the homeowner’s verified monthly gross, pre-tax, income. This modification can provide savings of hundreds of dollars per month for the homeowner. But, you need the advice of a Riverside bankruptcy lawyer in order to find out what options are right for you.

If you are contemplating on filing a Riverside Chapter 13 bankruptcy case because of mounting mortgage payments, you may be eligible for HAMP if you meet these requirements:

* You occupy the house as your primary residence.

* You obtained your mortgage on or before January 1, 2009.

* You have a mortgage payment that is more than 31 percent of your monthly gross (pre-tax) income.

* You owe up to $729,750 on your home.

* You have a financial hardship and are either delinquent or in danger of falling behind.

* You have sufficient, documented income to support the modified payment.

* You must not have been convicted within the last 10 years of felony larceny, theft, fraud or forgery, money laundering or tax evasion, in connection with a mortgage or real estate transaction.

While the HAMP program sounds like a good idea, even if you meet the above criteria, the lender still has the option to deny the modification. We have found that filing for Chapter 13 greatly increases the odds that the lender will modify your mortgage.

Our award-winning lawyers at The Law Office of Harold D. Thompson are experts in Riverside Chapter 13 bankruptcy cases. Since 1976, our bankruptcy attorneys have been helping people in Riverside County, just like you, get the financial fresh start they deserve. Please call our office at 888.361.5325 for a free-no hassle consultation, download a copy of our free California Guide to Bankruptcy or find out how you can become a client right now.

Bankruptcy laws were enacted to give individuals a fresh start from certain financial difficulties, especially those that they were unable to control, like staggering credit card fees, an unexpected accident or an illness leading to insurmountable hospital and medical bills or a messy divorce. A bankruptcy filing, like a Chapter 13 bankruptcy filing in Riverside, needs careful planning. But planning should only be done with the help of a Riverside Bankruptcy lawyer.

As a Riverside bankruptcy lawyer specializing in Chapter 13 cases, I have met a lot of individuals who come to me seeking help with their financial trouble. Most of these individuals believe they should file a Riverside Chapter 13 bankruptcy. Further, most of these people have already done something in preparation for their filing, usually by selling their property to their friends, or their parents, for a small amount prior to the bankruptcy filing. They usually do this without the advice of a bankruptcy attorney because they “think” it is a good idea.

Do not be ill-advised when filing for bankruptcy. Without planning, you might lose everything you owned and worked hard for in your lifetime.

There are a lot of things you should do before filing for bankruptcy. Likewise, there are also a lot of things you should NOT do before filing for bankruptcy. And one of them is transferring your property before the filing of your Riverside case.

These transfers, that are usually for less than the value of the property, are called “fraudulent conveyances” and can be recovered by a bankruptcy trustee and can be converted into cash to pay off creditors. Paying a debt before filing for bankruptcy to a friend or a family member can be considered a “preferred transfer” under bankruptcy laws and can also be taken back by the bankruptcy trustee.

So, if you are in financial distress and are contemplating filing for Chapter 7 or Chapter 13, it is best to consult a Riverside Chapter 13 bankruptcy attorney before making ANY financial transfers. If you have made fraudulent conveyances or preferential transfers, consult a Riverside Chapter 13 bankruptcy lawyer for advice in order to determine which of your assets are exempted under bankruptcy laws.

At The Law Office of Harold D. Thompson, our award-winning team of Riverside bankruptcy attorneys will guide you on how to protect your funds and assets in a bankruptcy filing. We encourage you to call our office at 888.558.2992 for a free-no hassle consultation, download a copy of our free California Guide to Bankruptcy or find out how you can become a client right now.

Oftentimes, we love to do things on our own, even if it means prescribing medicines without referral from a doctor. Did I get your attention?  Good. The FDA has warned us over and over again of the dangers of prescribing one’s own medicines. There have been numerous reports of drug companies pulling a drug off the market because they were considered dangerous. On many occasions, those drugs were not taken off until after the FDA has learned that someone was injured.

Prescribing one’s own medicine is just like filing a Riverside bankruptcy case on your own. As a Chapter 13 bankruptcy lawyer, I have seen how many of our clients file for bankruptcy by themselves and suffer a lot of setbacks as a result of the pro se filing. While pro se filings have increased over the last five years, as shown in a Bankruptcy Court Administrative Office analysis, this does not mean that pro se filings have gotten more favorable results than those filed by Chapter 13 lawyers with significant bankruptcy experience.

Bankruptcy filings are meant to give a financially-burdened person a fresh start. To ensure that you achieve this fresh start, there are certain things that you leave to the bankruptcy experts.

A lot of clients in my practice as a Riverside Chapter 13 bankruptcy lawyer usually think they are more knowledgeable than those professionals trained to handle bankruptcy cases, like a bankruptcy trustee. Most of these clients think they have their legal problem figured out so their don’t need proper representation.

But don’t take a chance on the opportunity that will save your life, your financial life, at least. As a Riverside Chapter 13 bankruptcy lawyer, I know that there are several areas in bankruptcy law that are not easily understandable except for someone with significant training and experience.

Bankruptcies need a lot of planning with someone having Chapter 13 experience. A well-planned bankruptcy will save you a lot of money and allow you to retain as much of your property as possible. A client who files a bankruptcy on his own may commit a lot of mistakes that cannot be repaired and would cost him a lot — certainly more than what he would pay if he hired an experienced bankruptcy lawyer.

At the Law Office of Harold D. Thompson our award winning bankruptcy attorneys will provide you with advice and help you plan your bankruptcy, prior to filing it, to allow you to minimize your expenses and hold on to most of your assets, and give you a fresh financial start. Our Riverside Chapter 13 lawyers have been helping all of Southern California since 1976. Don’t let another day go by in debt. We encourage you to call our office at 888.558.2992 for a free, no-hassle consultation, download a copy of our FREE California Guide to Bankruptcy or find out how you can become a client right now!

Riverside bankruptcy lawyers were extremely happy when bankruptcy courts decided to move to electronic filing. Finally, bankruptcy lawyers who have long been paper-burned will have much smaller files and reduced file storage costs. These reduced costs can then be passed onto the client in the form of reduced fees.

Riverside bankruptcy lawyers tend to save only signature pages. Part of a bankruptcy lawyer’s duties is to prepare a client’s schedules, have the client make the necessary changes, sign where needed, then prepare the PDF documents, use the /s/ digital signature, and proceed to filing.

The electronic filing is a certification that a lawyer has true and correct documents. A client must keep in mind there are sanctions when bankruptcy rules are violated or false documents provided.

In a 2010 case, In re Tran, 2010 WL 1255617 (Bky. N.D.Cal. April 2, 2010), a California court gave a lawyer a 30-day suspension and a $7,500 fine. The California court found that the bankruptcy lawyer filed bankruptcy papers not signed by the debtors, thus containing numerous inaccuracies and omissions, including a failure to list a 2008 Mercedes and a $13,000 bank account.

In the Tran case, the California court also found that due to the recurring nature of the bankruptcy lawyer’s misconduct, the bankruptcy court needed to take immediate action to protect the public, rather than wait for the State Bar to take action. The California court further found that the lawyer’s wife, a woman of Vietnamese decent, conducted the initial interview with the debtors, usually in Vietnamese, and advised them as to the chapter they should file under. The wife was also the one who prepared the debtors’ schedules. All of these things are inappropriate for a bankruptcy attorney.

As a Riverside bankruptcy attorney specializing in Chapter 13 cases, I often times see how attorneys cut corners in order to be more efficient. Hopefully, with the new electronic filing rules in place, attorneys and their clients will be better equipped to follow the rules and avoid sanctions.

The Law Office of Harold D. Thomson and its award-winning team of bankruptcy lawyers will guide you and prepare your filing with the utmost professionalism. Since 1976, we have helped thousands of individuals throughout Southern California get the fresh start they deserve. Call our office today at 888.558.2992 for a free, no-hassle consultations, download a copy of our free California Guide to Bankruptcy or find out how you can become a client right now!

The fact of the matter is that a Chapter 13 bankruptcy filing is a repayment plan, and is based on your paying down your debts at a rate you can afford. There is no liquidation of assets involved. If you don’t have sufficient means to pay off your debts under the provisions of Chapter 13, you will still probably be able to keep your retirement money, because most retirement funds are exempt under Chapter 7 bankruptcy. This means that the entire amount of your retirement fund is protected.

There is one exception, and that is in the case of a Roth IRA. If the value of one or more Roth IRAs is in excess of $1,095,00 per person, the excess will be taken by the bankruptcy court to pay back your creditors. However, very few people who are need financial protection have over a million dollars in a Roth IRA! You should also remember that while your retirement nest egg may be exempt under Chapter 7 , any funds being paid to you as retirement income are not. So, whether you have more or less retirement money, you should always consult with a good bankruptcy attorney.

Our Riverside Bankruptcy Attorneys, have over 30 years of experience that we can put to work in getting you through rough financial times, while protecting your retirement funds from creditors.

For more on the advantages of bankruptcy in getting you back on fresh financial footing, download our free book, The California Guide to Bankruptcy, to find out more on what bankruptcy can and cannot do. You can’t afford to be without this valuable tool in determining the path to your future!

Next, you will have to get usl your bills, so that your Riverside bankruptcy lawyer can determine exactly how much is owed to your creditors. This is also so that we have contact information for all of your creditors, so that we can be in communication with them regarding your Chapter 7 bankruptcy filing.

Next, we need about all of your assets. We urge our clients not to attempt to conceal anything, as any assets are part of the bankruptcy estate, and they must sign a statement under oath that they have provided a complete list. Anything else qualifies as perjury.

Once we know all the assets, we can assess them to determine which are exempt. If the property is excempt, it means that it cannot be sold to satisfy the debts owed to creditors.

Once we have  all the information, we prepare the legal documents for you to review. Once you have verified the accuracy of the documents, the petition and schedules are ready to file. The Court will review them and, when the process is finished, grant a discharge of bankruptcy.

These are tough times for too many folks , people like you, who just need a fresh start on their finances. We have over 30 years of experience, and are dedicated to helping you along the path to a fresh financial future. Download our free book, The California Guide to Bankruptcy, to find out more about the process and what bankruptcy can do for you. Then give one of our Riverside bankruptcy lawyers a call at 888.558.2992, for a FREE consultation. You can even request your free bankruptcy evaluation right here on this site. The Law Offices of Harold D. Thompson, Riverside Bankruptcy Lawyers, are here to help you through these troubled times, and get you the fresh start you deserve!

We know too many people who are ashamed to admit they need help, the help that bankruptcy can bring. Or they heard that the bankruptcy laws were changed, and believe that there is no way they can qualify. Are you one of those people? Yes, the rules for bankruptcy were changed, but it’s still set up to provide real relief to people who, through no fault of their own, have fallen on tough financial times. And in our bankruptcy attorney practice, we meet good people every day, people who lost jobs and can’t find another, people who are thankful to have a low-wage job, but can’t pay their mortgage, people who never thought they would have run through all their savings and now are looking at a bleak future.

We want to reassure all of you that it doesn’t have to be that way! Far from being a problem, bankruptcy can be the solution that guides you into a better future. Check our FAQ for just a few of the way bankruptcy can help you. We also urge you to download our free book, The California Guide to Bankruptcy, and find out what bankruptcy can do to help you get out from under crushing debt, or help you keep the home you worked so hard for!

It’s really a shame to see what hardships people go through, not realizing the power of bankruptcy. Bankruptcy can stop a foreclosure, and keep you from losing your home. In fact, with the combination of underemployment  that has left you employed, but at far lesser wages, and the falling price of homes, a Chapter 13 filing might be able to even strip away a second mortgage, leaving you with a more affordable payment and a mortgage that reflects the current housing market. If you’re unemployed and are looking at a mass of debt and the end of your resources, Chapter 7 bankruptcy may be right for you. You might even be able to keep your home, depending on whether you pass the means test and qualify for certain exemptions under the provisions of Chapter 7 debt relief.

That’s why, if you’re at the end of your wits and your finances, in the current economy, you really need to talk to a Riverside bankruptcy attorney. There may be more options available than you thought. What’s more, the consultation is FREE, so you have nothing to lose. Call one of our expert bankruptcy attorneys at 888.588.2992 and one of our bankruptcy lawyers can advise you concerning your personal situation. Every one of our clients has a unique story, and we have 30 years of experience we can put to work, right now, in getting you a fresh start on your finances.

First off, we urge you to contact an immigration lawyer if you have any concerns about your status. While we know bankruptcy, with over 30 years of experience, your best legal advice about immigration matters comes from a lawyer who specializes in that field, and we can give you a referral. However, in matters of Chapter 7 or Chapter 13 bankruptcy, we can tell you a few basic facts.

First off, there is no bankruptcy qualifier in your immigration paperwork. However, owing back taxes can negatively affect your status in applying for citizenship. If you are experiencing financial hardships that have kept you from paying taxes due from you, please consult with us. We may be able to work out a solution that will help you with back taxes.

Many people who are hoping to become citizens are embarrassed to find themselves in bad financial shape, and are afraid that it will reflect badly on them when they file for naturalization. They are afraid it will be seen as a moral failing. However, in our practice as Riverside bankruptcy lawyers, we can assure you that the vast majority of people who come to us for advice have suffered from serious financial troubles that are beyond their control, and the courts know that. We can assure you that your immigration officer is well aware of the economic difficulties that everyone has been experiencing. They might even be going through financial hardship, themselves!

This is just a lengthy way of assuring you that no, bankruptcy will not negatively impact your quest to become an American citizen. Also, if you’re worried about finding out if you qualify for bankruptcy because of your status, don’t be.  They are two different areas of the law. Don’t miss out on your opportunity to get a fresh start in a fresh new country. You can call us for a free, confidential consultation, at 888-558-2992. Or simply fill out a form, here on this site. We’re experienced with all sorts of situations, and one of our friendly attorneys can let you know if a Chapter 7 or Chapter 13 bankruptcy is right for you.