Debt Dies With You

Imagine this: your daughter dies and the bank comes after you to pay her student loans. That’s what happened to this family from Kansas, even though they didn’t co-sign for the loans. The most persistent lender, Wells Fargo Bank, gave up pursuing the parents after the parents spoke with a local television news station.

In general, when you die, your debts die with you. Neither your family members nor anyone else has a legal obligation to pay your debts after you die unless they co-signed or guaranteed those debts.

KCTV5 article via the Consumerist

Posted in Banks

Taxes Taxes Taxes … And Bankruptcy!

Tax time is coming up! I’ll start off by saying that most people who come to me with heavy tax debts cannot wipe out those debts. That’s because those debts do not fall within the category of dischargeable tax debts. In order to be able to wipe out tax debts in bankruptcy, all 3 of these rules must apply to the tax debt:

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Posted in Taxes

Bad and Good Reasons to File Bankruptcy

These are the reasons you probably would NOT want to file a bankruptcy case:

1. Your only debts are credit card debts, and you haven’t tried to settle with any of the credit card companies yet

2. Your debts can be paid off within 2-3 years while you maintain a reasonable standard of living. Here is an article that about a person who paid off $14,330 in credit card debt in 20 months.

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Posted in Bankruptcy

Low Income Debtors and Debtors Who Have AIDS

There are two really great legal resources for San Francisco Bay Area residents who either have very low income, or who have AIDS.  The first is for low-income residents, and is called the San Francisco Bar Association’s Volunteer Legal Services Program (VLSP).  VLSP offers a Consumer Debt Defense and Education Clinic twice a month, where low-income debtors can learn about their options for dealing with creditors, including whether or not they should file for bankruptcy.  VLSP helps clinic attendees prepare cease and desist letters to creditors who are harassing the attendees, and helps the attendees prepare Answers to Complaint in response to collection lawsuits.  VLSP is operated by a wonderful set of people who go out of their way to help low-income debtors, and there are not enough nice words in the English language to express how I feel about this program.

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Posted in Low Income

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Address:201 Spear Street
Suite 1100
San Francisco, CA 94105
1900 South Norfolk Street
Suite 350
San Mateo, CA 94403
Phone:(415) 493-8416
Fax:(415) 373-4635
Email:heather@hcutlerlaw.com

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