The California Credit Law Blog reports, among others, that recipients of federal benefits will get new protections from creditors under a federal rule going into effect May 1. The new rule was pushed by the National Consumer Law Center as a way to make technical protections into real ones. Under current law benefits are protected but in reality they can still be seized or garnished and it’s up to the debtor to take legal action to claw them back. The new rule prohibits the practice of denying beneficiaries access to these essential funds in bank accounts. It requires all banks …Read more »
Monthly Archives: March 2011
Santa Rosa bankuptcy lawyer on California’s small business filings
Small Business Bankruptcy Filings Take a Dive, the article is headlined and that seems like good news for the economy. A sign of a recovery, if small businesses are at least staying in business. Then comes the kicker — “The one exception was California, where economic turmoil remained high last year and accounted for nearly 20 percent of the country’s business failures.” That is certainly the case in Santa Rosa and Sonoma County, where the local economy shows a lot of resistance to any forward movement. Just last month, The Santa Rosa Press Democrat reported on a local economist’s findings …Read more »
Category: Bankruptcy |
Legal perspectives on Santa Rosa renters’ medical marijuana rights
One Tuesday at the Sonoma Superior Court‘s unlawful detainer calendar in Santa Rosa, I spoke briefly with a couple who were contesting their eviction based on their medical marijuana cards. Their argument was that they couldn’t be evicted for having (growing) drugs on the premises because of California’s med-mar cards. Based on the current state of California law, that’s pretty much a fantasy. The San Diego Union-Tribune ran a lengthy piece on the question on the question and concluded that unlike Arizona’s new law, California law does not give tenants a clear right to smoke and grow in a rental …Read more »
Category: Landlord-Tenant, Marijuana |
31,000 Sonoma County homes underwater
Have you thought about walking away from your home? For many Santa Rosa, Petaluma and Rohnert Park homeowners, that has to be a kitchen-table discussion these days. The Santa Rosa Press Democrat reports that some 31,000 Sonoma County homes — 29% of all homes — are underwater. That leaves people trapped in “negative equity” — unable to sell and with little chance of ever breaking even on their loans. Compared to the country, Sonoma County is running slightly worse. The U.S. has 29 percent of homes underwater. All of this seems to indicate that there will be no shortage of …Read more »
Ricky Henderson plays hardball with Oakland tenant
The San Jose Mercury News reports that Hall of Famer and ex-Oakland A Ricky Henderson is playing hardball with a former tenant over a $1,500 security deposit. Henderson took time out from spring training to make an appearance in Alameda Superior Court to defend withholding $550 from tenant Timothy Ault because, although Henderson approved Ault’s breaking the lease, Henderson had to find a new tenant. Henderson, who according to www.baseball-reference.com made at least $44.5 million in his professional baseball career, told Rasch that he decided to keep a $300 pet security deposit Ault paid and $250 of a $1,550 security …Read more »
Category: Landlord-Tenant |
Court of Appeals upholds class-action verdict against Oakland slumlord who ripped off hundreds of tenants
This is the story of tenants winning big — and the Court of Appeals upholding that victory last month — against an amazing scumbag — Oakland landlord Richard Thomas, who besides intentionally withholding security deposits from hundreds of tenants engaged in super-aggressive legal tactics to stop tenants from suing him. He would countersue for an amount over the small claims limit, forcing tenants to drop their security deposit claims because they couldn’t afford lawyers to represent them in civil court. Indeed, he has been deemed a “vexatious litigant.” And he has sued virtually every attorney he’s ever had. Back in …Read more »
Category: Landlord-Tenant |
Bankruptcy worksheet: Download and fill out our worksheet before your first meeting.
If you’re scheduling your free consultation with us, please download and fill out this extensive worksheet before coming in. We realize you won’t be able to fill everything out but doing this work before your first meeting will make the process SO much easier on everyone: Bankruptcy Worksheet It’s a PDF file, so make sure you have Adobe Acrobat.
Category: Bankruptcy |
Ask the Expert: Sonoma County Bankruptcy Attorney Richard Koman answers questions about bankruptcy
Bankruptcy Tips with Richard C. Koman, bankruptcy attorney in Santa Rosa CA. Bankruptcy can only be used once every eight years so if you’re going to file, you need to make sure this is the right time to file. Two kinds of bankruptcy: Chapter 7 and 13. Chapter 7 is a full discharge of debt. Chapter 13 is really a payment plan where you use disposable income to pay off creditors. The reason Chapter 13 is popular is that if your house is under water, the second loan can be stripped away and that can mean you can afford to …Read more »
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- California eviction basics
- Thinking about college? Did you know student loan debt is nondischargeable?
- What happens when creditor calls continue after bankruptcy? Santa Rosa attorney explains
- Santa Rosa attorney: What Vallejo teaches consumers about bankrupcty
- Santa Rosa attorney: Why you need a lawyer for bankruptcy