Ask any California bankruptcy attorney and they'll tell you the same thing: bankruptcies in California are up – way up. Just consider these shocking statistics:

•    In 2000, the Central District of California bankruptcy court (handles Los Angeles and the surrounding area) processed about 3,000 bankruptcy cases.
•    In 2005, new bankruptcy laws went into effect, so it's unsurprising that in 2006, the court processed just 314 bankruptcy cases.
•    In 2007, that number rose to 812 cases.
•    In 2008, the Central District of California bankruptcy court processed 1,382 cases.
•    In 2009, the court processed 2,148 cases.
•    So far in 2010, the court has processed 3,526 cases – and at the time of this writing, we're only three months into the year.

Remember, these numbers represent only Los Angeles and the surrounding area. In other words, every bankruptcy attorney in California – even the bad ones – is up to their ears in bankruptcy cases.

Don’t let your debtors take over your home, your car and more. Contacting an Orange County bankruptcy attorney is the best thing to do when you find yourself in severe financial trouble.

Orange County is no different from the rest of California. In January 2010, reports showed that unemployment hit 10.1%. Just from December 2009 to January 2010, the county lost nearly 15,000 jobs, bringing the total number of unemployed to 1.3 million.

Then there's health care. With 15% of Orange County residents living without health care, the combination of job loss and unexpected medical bills can be financially devastating. Many Orange County residents who never would have considered looking for a bankruptcy lawyer in California now suddenly find themselves seeking out the help of an Orange County bankruptcy attorney.

Why Consult with a California Bankruptcy Lawyer?

An Orange County bankruptcy attorney can help you decide if bankruptcy is the right option for you. By declaring a Chapter 7 bankruptcy, in which most of your debts are discharged, or a Chapter 11 bankruptcy, in which the court and your Orange County bankruptcy attorney work out a realistic debt repayment plan with your creditors, you may be spared from home foreclosure, car repossession, and crushing stacks of medical bills.

Without doubt, facing bankruptcy is a low point in anyone's life. However, your Orange County bankruptcy attorney has seen many cases just like yours, and can reassure you that bankruptcy is not an ending, but a new beginning. With the help of a competent Orange County bankruptcy attorney, the burden of debt weighing down your life will be lifted. You'll be given a fresh financial start, and an opportunity to live without constantly worrying about your debts.

Will Bankruptcy Affect Job Opportunities?

Some Orange County residents may hesitate to file for bankruptcy, because they are afraid it will reflect poorly on them and prevent them from being able to find employment. As your Orange County bankruptcy attorney will explain to you, this fear is unfounded. By law, you are under no obligation to reveal your personal financial situation to your current or potential employer, and also by law, employers may not discriminate against you for filing for bankruptcy.
In short, contacting an Orange County bankruptcy attorney might just be the best thing you can do for your financial situation. Although bankruptcy can be a hard pill to swallow, the alternative – such as losing your home, your car, and more – is even worse. Call an Orange County bankruptcy attorney today to set up a consultation.

Bankruptcy can relieve you of your debts and give you a fresh start. Call (877) 427-2752 to talk to a bankruptcy lawyer in California and get advice about your case.

The Bakersfield Homeless Center in Bakersfield, CA, used to have 174 beds for homeless men, women, and children. Because the director, Louis Gill, doesn't like to turn anyone away, he's now laying out mattresses in between the beds. In 2008, thanks to the economy tanking in California and the rest of the nation, the Bakersfield Homeless Center saw a 34% increase in the number of homeless families, Gill said.

Bakersfield, according to 2009 figures, was the eleventh-fastest growing city in the state of California, but just like every community in California, it's been hit hard by the global recession. Formerly working-class and middle-class Bakersfield residents now find themselves facing the very real possibility of losing their homes.

Why wait? At least set up a consultation with a Bakersfield bankruptcy attorney today to find out if bankruptcy might be right for you.

Declaring Bankruptcy is Not All Bad

One way to save your home is to hire a Bakersfield bankruptcy attorney. A bankruptcy attorney in California can help you file for a Chapter 7 bankruptcy or a Chapter 13 bankruptcy. Either of these two types of bankruptcy can help you stay in your home. During the time when your bankruptcy is being processed, mortgage payments might even be suspended, and after the bankruptcy, you may be able to use the court and your Bakersfield bankruptcy attorney to negotiate a more realistic mortgage payment.

Many people never consider hiring a California bankruptcy lawyer, or for that matter filing for bankruptcy because they don't see themselves as the type of person who would ever need to declare bankruptcy. Bankruptcy has a certain stigma of failure attached to it, and hard-working Bakersfield residents don't see themselves as failures. However, with the help of a Bakersfield bankruptcy attorney, you'll be able to understand that filing for bankruptcy isn't all bad. It may keep you in your home, after all, and isn't a stable home what your family most needs during these uncertain times?

Types of Bankruptcy

When you meet with your Bakersfield bankruptcy attorney, one of the first things he will help you do is to decide which type of bankruptcy you should pursue. Even though the bankruptcy laws in 2005 made it harder for people to qualify for a Chapter 7 bankruptcy, in which all of your unsecured debts are discharged, many people still qualify for Chapter 7. If you're right on the edge of being legally eligible to file for Chapter 7, a good Bakersfield bankruptcy attorney will make all the difference in the world.

A Chapter 13 bankruptcy, by contrast, works with your creditors to work out a more realistic payment plan, taking the pressure off you to make house payments, car payments, and other debt repayments that had become unmanageable. Why wait? At least set up a consultation with a Bakersfield bankruptcy attorney today to find out if bankruptcy might be right for you. The alternative might be becoming one of Louis Gill's new residents.

Call (877) 427-2752 and set up a consultation to get more information about bankruptcy and see if you are eligible to file for any chapter of bankruptcy and get relieved from some of your debts.

Some Californians in financial trouble due to job loss, unexpected medical expenses, family upheaval, or some other reason have the additional problem of sinking under the weight of large student loans. Student loans, although they doubtless seemed like a necessary investment at the time, become very difficult to pay back in times like these, when the economy contracts. Young people are disproportionately affected when jobs become scarce, and are often the first wave of workers to be laid off. Banks and governments nonetheless place a high expectation on younger workers to pay back their student loans no matter what else is happening.

As a California bankruptcy attorney can explain, most student loans cannot be discharged even when you file for bankruptcy. Like child support, paying back a student loan is seen by the law as a moral obligation that people must fulfill, and is thus one of the last debts to be considered for discharge. In most cases, student loans will still have to be repaid in bankruptcy even in the case of a Chapter 7 bankruptcy.

Get a Good California Bankruptcy Lawyer

However, as with any rule, there are always a few exceptions. With a proactive bankruptcy lawyer in California, you still might be able to get your student loan discharged during your bankruptcy proceeding.
A bankruptcy attorney in California must show the court that repaying the student loan would cause the debtor an “undue hardship”. This “undue hardship” rule applies to both Chapter 7 bankruptcies and to Chapter 13 bankruptcies. This rule came about in the 1970s, because it had become popular to file for bankruptcy soon after completing a pricey education. The student loan would be discharged, and then the new graduate was loan-free and ready to earn.

In order to prove repaying a student loan would cause “undue hardship”, the debtor must meet these three criteria:

•    Repaying the student loan will prevent the individual from maintaining a minimal standard of living
•    Over the course of the repayment period, repayment will force the individual to fall at some point below that minimal standard of living
•    The individual has been making an effort to repay the loan, and has been repaying the loan for at least five years


Consult with a California Bankruptcy Lawyer

A bankruptcy lawyer in California will help you determine if your student loan can be discharged when you file for bankruptcy. If there's any chance that the court might consider you to have an “undue hardship” by repaying the loan, a good attorney will help convince the judge that discharging the loan is the only possibility you have for getting back on firm financial ground.

Filing for bankruptcy can be an emotional and extremely stressful process, and whenever stress and emotions are running high, mistakes are common. So what do you do if you forget to list a creditor when you are filing for bankruptcy?

First, don't panic: you're not the only person who has forgotten a creditor while filing for bankruptcy. A savvy California bankruptcy attorney can easily amend your filing – a fairly simple legal maneuver that should not endanger your bankruptcy or credibility with the court.
An amendment, however, can only take place if your bankruptcy is still pending. If your bankruptcy has already been discharged, you'll definitely need to check with your Chapter 7 bankruptcy attorney or your Chapter 13 bankruptcy attorney to see how you should proceed. In some cases, such as filing for bankruptcy in a no asset bankruptcy, forgetting a creditor should not pose a major problem. On the other hand, if you did have assets and forgot a creditor, that creditor could file a complaint with the court. The complaint could have serious legal consequences for you. In this sort of case, you'll have to rely upon the skill of a competent California bankruptcy lawyer to protect your assets, because you may face a liquidation of those assets to pay the forgotten creditor.

The best way to avoid forgetting a creditor when filing for bankruptcy is to check, re-check, and triple-check your list of creditors. If you have a nagging feeling that you might be forgetting something, quadruple-check with the help of your bankruptcy attorney in California. Forgetting a creditor can make the stressful process of filing for bankruptcy even more stressful than it needs to be; therefore, take the time to carefully list your creditors before you meet with your bankruptcy lawyer in California, and check that list again when you and your lawyer meet.

It's a natural instinct to want to repay family and friends before filing for bankruptcy. After all, they were there for you, lending you money long after bill collectors were starting to hound you. They knew you were in financial trouble, and maybe they even knew there was a good chance you weren't going to pay them back. It's almost a point of honor to try to repay family and friends before bankruptcy proceedings begin.

But don't do it.

As a competent California bankruptcy attorney can explain to you, trying to repay family and friends in advance of bankruptcy is frowned upon by the courts. Your Chapter 7 bankruptcy lawyer or Chapter 13 bankruptcy lawyer can explain to you that bankruptcy laws are designed to treat all your creditors fairly. When you give payments that favor one creditor over another, the court calls these “preferences”, and hands the job to the Bankruptcy Trustee to recover the payments that you made. Bankruptcy Trustees are unsympathetic and objective. As your California bankruptcy lawyer can tell you, it may seem that the Trustee is cruel, but it is simply their job. They aren't interested in who you borrowed money from or why the money was borrowed.

Get the Advice of a Qualified California Bankruptcy Lawyer

Often times, your California bankruptcy lawyer can help you negotiate a settlement with the Bankruptcy Trustee that enables your family and friends to avoid dealing with the Trustee. To avoid any potential problems or complications, and to make sure your friends and relatives get treated as fairly as possible, you should definitely enlist the help of a California bankruptcy lawyer. The sooner you find a Chapter 7 or Chapter 13 bankruptcy lawyer, the more likely it will be that you can pay your family and friends back what you owe them.

A California Bankruptcy Lawyer in Your Area

For residents of Southern California, contact the Wilshire Law Group first. With a commitment to work unwaveringly to represent clients facing bankruptcy, the Wilshire  Law Group can provide you with a California bankruptcy lawyer who has worked with many people who found themselves in sticky financial situations, just like yours. These days, with California experiencing more job loss than at any other time in recent decades, it's not unusual at all for hard-working Californians to need the help of a California bankruptcy lawyer. Between prolonged job loss and unexpected medical situations, the California bankruptcy lawyer from the Wilshire Law Group assigned to your case has seen it all. They stand ready to help you through this challenging time.

What is credit counseling, and is it the right way for you to start getting out of debt? The answer is murky: some legitimate credit counseling organizations really do have your best interest in mind, but unfortunately, many so-called “credit counseling” companies are fly-by-night scams who might leave you more in debt than when you started.

What is Credit Counseling?

As a qualified California bankruptcy attorney can explain to you, the credit counseling industry has gradually grown into a $7 billion industry, but many of the companies are illegitimate. Thanks to the rise of consumer debt in the 1990s, the one dominant company – the National Foundation for Credit Counseling – was suddenly joined by hundreds of rivals, many of whom had sound-alike names and multi-million dollar advertising budgets. Some of these companies can help you to negotiate a repayment plan with your creditors, but many charge a very high up-front fee. The worst companies are likely to charge you an exorbitant fee, then disconnect their phones without ever contacting your creditors.

Who Should Seek Credit Counseling?

Credit counseling is often the last step before an individual starts to look for a Chapter 7 bankruptcy lawyer or a Chapter 13 bankruptcy lawyer. Unfortunately, according to Lydia Sermons-Ward, who is a spokeswoman for the National Foundation of Credit Counseling, only about half of the individuals who sought the company's help will complete their plans.

Maybe You Should Pursue Bankruptcy

Given the dangers inherent in the credit counseling industry – which some critics call a tool of the lending industry – it might be better for you to simply find a California bankruptcy lawyer and begin Chapter 7 or Chapter 13 bankruptcy proceedings. There are many myths surrounding bankruptcy, and a quick consultation with a qualified California bankruptcy attorney can help to dispel those myths. For example, even if you file for bankruptcy, you can often keep your home, avoid repossession, and still get a credit card. In many cases, your credit won't be worse off than it was before bankruptcy, and rebuilding credit is easier than you might think. For residents of Southern California, consider contacting the Wilshire Law Group. Not only will you find a competent California bankruptcy lawyer at their firm, you will also enjoy superior customer service and a productive, long-term relationship with your Chapter 7 bankruptcy lawyer or Chapter 13 bankruptcy lawyer. After your bankruptcy proceedings are complete, you can enjoy discounted seminars at the Wilshire Law Group, on topics from updated financial laws to how to rebuild your credit after bankruptcy.

When you're considering filing for bankruptcy, one of the first things a competent California bankruptcy attorney will explain to you is the “means test”. The means test is a formula designed to keep people with a higher level of income from filing for Chapter 7 bankruptcy. As your California bankruptcy attorney will explain, Chapter 7 is considered the generally more desirable form of bankruptcy, because in Chapter 7 your debts are often completely discharged, whereas in Chapter 13 bankruptcy, you still have to pay back many of your debts.

Chapter 7 Bankruptcy: California Bankruptcy Attorney Explanation

In the Chapter 7 means test, your monthly expenses are deducted from your monthly income. Your monthly income is calculated by averaging your income over the six months before filing for bankruptcy. Through balancing a set of complex factors, the means test tries to determine if you have enough disposable monthly income to pay off at least some of your debts.

A California bankruptcy lawyer comes in very handy at this point in the process, helping you to think of expenses you might not have considered that makes your disposable income lower. A Chapter 7 bankruptcy attorney can tell you that you don't have to be a pauper to qualify for Chapter 7. In fact, despite new laws, many middle class individuals can still qualify for Chapter 7. Californians should consult with a California bankruptcy lawyer to determine their eligibility.

You can bypass the means test entirely if your current monthly income is less than the median income for a household of your size in your state. To help you determine if you qualify automatically or need to complete a means test, ask your California bankruptcy attorney.

Chapter 13 Bankruptcy: California Bankruptcy Attorney Explanation

If you don't qualify for Chapter 7 bankruptcy, your California bankruptcy attorney will help you file for Chapter 13 bankruptcy. Basically, in Chapter 13, you must fully or partially repay your debts, but can keep some of your property. In some cases, you can stop foreclosure proceedings when you file for Chapter 13, provided you receive the help of a California bankruptcy lawyer. To understand Chapter 13 in more depth, consult with a Chapter 13 bankruptcy attorney.

There are advantages and disadvantages to both debt consolidation and bankruptcy. With debt consolidation, individuals enter into a contract with a debt consolidation service. The debt consolidation service will negotiate with the individual's creditors in an effort to obtain lower interests rates and lower monthly payments on the individual's existing debt. Individuals will make one payment each month to the debt consolidation service.

Debt consolidation will not cover all of an individual's debts, and it could take years for an individual to satisfy their debts through debt consolidation. Debt consolidation does not protect individuals from legal actions by their creditors, and it can jeopardize an individual's property such as their home. There are two chapters of bankruptcy under which an individual may be eligible to file: Chapter 7 and Chapter 13. With Chapter 7 bankruptcy, an individual's non-exempt property is liquidated, and the proceeds from this sale are used to pay the individual's creditors. Chapter 13 bankruptcy establishes a repayment plan. With a Chapter 13 bankruptcy repayment plan, individuals will have 3 to 5 years to repay all or a portion of their debt. When an individual files for bankruptcy their creditors may no longer take any legal action against them. A Chapter 7 bankruptcy attorney or a Chapter 13 bankruptcy lawyer can more fully explain the advantages of filing bankruptcy as opposed to debt consolidation. Debt Consolidation will appear on your credit report and damage your credit score.

Bankruptcy will lower the individual’s credit score, and it will remain on their record for 7 years. This information will be available to the public. However, bankruptcy can provide individuals with a fresh financial start or at least give them hope that their financial woes will eventually come to an end. A Chapter 7 bankruptcy attorney or a Chapter 13 bankruptcy lawyer can help individuals determine the right path for them.

A California bankruptcy attorney can help individuals assess their financial situation to determine if debt consolidation or bankruptcy is right for them. When individuals want to get out of debt, the assistance of a California bankruptcy lawyer can be invaluable. A California bankruptcy attorney will provide expert legal counsel and advice. When debt consolidation or bankruptcy is in your future, contact a California bankruptcy lawyer for assistance.