24 Jan 2017

6 Things You Should NOT Do If You’re Considering Bankruptcy

Perhaps you’ve found yourself in a difficult financial situation caused by high medical bills and loss of income, or a recent divorce. Your debts are piling up, and there’s simply not enough money to pay your creditors what you owe them. If you have come to the conclusion that your only option is filing for bankruptcy to eliminate your debts, be very careful. There are some detrimental financial moves that can hurt your bankruptcy case. It’s important that you avoid these mistakes so that your bankruptcy filing is a smoother process, rather than one fraught with challenges from your creditors, or the bankruptcy trustee.

Transferring Property or Money

People often believe that if they transfer assets, such as houses, cars and cash to relatives or others that those assets will be safe from the bankruptcy proceedings. This is a complete fallacy, and in fact, transferring assets does little to protect your assets. Worse yet, these attempts can be construed as fraudulent by the court, even if you had no intention of concealing the assets.

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13 Jan 2017

Start Fresh in 2017: Financial Resolutions

The new year is here and if you haven’t already, it’s time to set your financial goals for 2017!

Maybe you are hoping to pay off all of your debt, or perhaps you’d like to start a savings account for a particular purpose. Whatever it is you’ve been considering doing with your money, now is the time to resolve to do it and take steps towards getting it done.

Even if you are all for setting new goals and working toward becoming more financially secure, you may be wondering how to get started on your 2017 financial journey. After all, money is often a big and intimidating topic that you may try to avoid.

For this reason, we have taken the time to put together a series of guidelines for setting and meeting your 2017 money goals.

Look at Your Situation

Before making any enormous resolutions, you must take an honest look at where you currently stand. If you find that you are deep in debt and/or on the verge of bankruptcy, setting a goal to save for a cruise vacation is probably not the best choice. (more…)

01 Jan 2017

Filing for Bankruptcy Without an Attorney: What You Need to Know

 

Once you’ve made a decision to file bankruptcy the next thing you’ll need to do is find a bankruptcy attorney. Chances are, like most people, you’ve decided to file bankruptcy because you cannot meet your debts.

 

You may think one smart way of saving money is to avoid hiring a bankruptcy attorney, after all, it’s just a bunch of forms to fill out and present to the court, right? No, you’re wrong and you could be jeopardizing your financial future if you opt to file on your own – which is known as “pro se”.

 

The Odds are Against You 

California residents and businesses file more petitions annually pro se than any other state in the country. According to some studies, if you’re considering a reorganization petition, the odds are not in your (more…)