FIRST of all, let’s have a moment of silence for the 10 innocent victims of the shooting massacre in Boulder, Colorado earlier this week. This was another senseless killing of innocent people for no reason at all.
Remember, this massacre was preceded only a week ago by the anti-Asian hate crime in Atlanta that murdered eight victims, six of whom were Asian women. Let’s pray to our God Almighty to accept them all, all innocent victims of hate, into paradise with Him and Jesus Christ, in heaven. Jesus sits on the right hand of the Father, to judge the living and dead. So, these two murderers will have to pay for their barbaric acts of hate with eternal damnation in the fiery pits of hell. Our God will judge them accordingly. What does the 6th Commandment say? THOU SHALL NOT KILL. I’m pretty sure that the reason now adopted by the killer in Atlanta that he had a sexual addiction so he wanted to destroy the source of the temptation will not fly. He went to three massage parlors, not three brothels. If you want a massage, go to a massage parlor. If you want sex, go to a brothel. It would have made more sense if he joined the monastery to get rid of temptation. In Boulder, the apparent reason is the suspect was being bullied in high school because of his ethnicity and religion. So what’s that got to do with killing 10 innocent victims who have never even met him before, much less bully him in any way? And the spokesman for the police department in Atlanta said that the killer was just having a really bad day like it was ok to kill people if you were having a bad day. What if the guy killed his wife and children, and shot him in the chest? Oh yeah, it’s fine, I’m ok with that, he’s just having a bad day.
We pray for the families of the victims. May our God give them peace, hear their prayers and assuage their broken hearts, through Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior. What is the second greatest commandment? Love your neighbor as yourself.
What does classic mean? It means it has the features of everything that the situation entails. We’re talking about Chapter 7 bankruptcy, also known as the “fresh start” without accumulated debt.
Bankruptcy first and foremost is a constitutional right. Yes, the right to the “fresh start” is embodied in the United States Constitution. Article 1, Section 8 of the constitution states that congress is “authorized to enact uniform laws on the subject of bankruptcies”.
Second, bankruptcy is a Federal right. It’s contained in U.S. Code Title 11. Therefore, bankruptcy is both a Constitutional and Federal right given to individuals to start fresh again in life by removing burdensome accumulated debt. Why? So that individuals can become productive people again, so they can start enjoying life again as life is meant to be lived. God wants us to enjoy our lives. God doesn’t want us to be suffering everyday carrying the heavy burden of accumulated debt. How do we know this is what God wants?
Because He said “my plans are to prosper you, not to harm you.” God doesn’t want us to have accumulated debt that is sucking out our income and our enjoyment of life.
Classic Chapter 7 case no. 1
The client is 65 years old and married. He owns a house with an equity of $260,000. What is equity? That’s the fair market value of the house less the balance of the mortgages on the house. In this case, his house has a fair market value of $500,000. He owes Wells Fargo $240,000 on the mortgage. So, his equity or his own money in the house is $260,000. If the house were sold for $500,000, after Wells Fargo is paid off in full, the money left is $260,000. That belongs to the client. He owes $50,000 of credit card debt. He owns two old cars, which are fully paid. He stopped working two years ago and now receives social security of $1,500. His wife makes $3,500 a month.
You don’t have to think too much to figure out what the problem is. Obviously, the $50,000 of credit cards needs at least $1,600 a month or more of minimum monthly payments to keep them current. So, his social security of $1,500 is not even enough to keep all of the cards current every month. That’s what the problem is.
The client has the heavy burden at 65 of carrying the debt load of $50,000 of credit cards.
He can’t even drive Uber or Lyft to make another $1,500 to pay for the cards. His back hurts a lot if he sits down too long. No way he can spend hours on end driving Uber with a sensitive back. Is there a way out of his problem? Certainly, there is.
The client is what I call a classic Chapter 7 case. The Constitution and federal law give the client the right to get rid of his very heavy $50,000 credit card debt by using a Chapter 7 petition to ask the court to wipe out his debt so he can have a “fresh start” in life at the age of 65 without having to deal anymore with his $50,000 of credit card debt.
What happens to his house with $260,000 of equity? The client is fortunate today because even with $260,000 of equity he can protect his house by claiming the homestead exemption pursuant to the amended 704.730 of the California Code of Civil Procedure.
This amendment, which just took effect three months ago, protects home equities in Los Angeles County up to $600,000. Yes, that’s correct you read it right, that’s $600,000 of equity that is now protected by Chapter 7! Never has the homestead equity in California ever been this high in the last 200 years. Last year, the client would have only been able to protect $175,000 of equity. This means last year, the client would need to file Chapter 13, not Chapter 7. In Chapter 13, he would have to pay the $50,000 over 60 months interest-free, that’s at least $850 a month for five years. See the difference? With Chapter 7 now, he pays zero, nothing, fully protects his house, and wipes out the whole $50K. He becomes productive again at the age of 65.
Classic Chapter 7 case no. 2
The client is 50 years old and married. He doesn’t own a house and just rents. He used to drive Uber and Lyft but with the pandemic, he has not worked for a year. Maybe when the pandemic ends, he will drive Uber and Lyft again. According to Pres. Biden, everyone who wants to be vaccinated will have access to the vaccine by May 1, that’s only two months from now. So hopefully, with God’s help, the pandemic as we know it will be gone or at least totally under control, we might even have herd immunity, by this summer. For us Asians, we have to face another pandemic, a pandemic of hate against us because we are so good-looking. God made us good-looking, what can we do? If we were bad-looking, we would be hated because of that.
This is how hate works. I don’t like the way you walk, the way talk, the way you look, the way you stand, the way you eat and so on and so forth. I can’t stand it that you exist. What was the joke going on in Hitler Germany about Jews? Why do they have big noses?
Because air is free. This sounds like a joke but it’s not. It’s borne from hate. It’s the same as the police officer saying that the murderer killed eight people because he was having a bad day. It’s the same kind of thought from the heart, going to the mind, and being said out from the mouth. Hate goes from the heart, to the mind, to the mouth, then to action.
You don’t have to be a psychologist to know this. From so-called jokes, then comes the final solution. Let’s gather all the Jews in Europe and put them in concentration camps. Then we’ll kill all of them. Result: 6M Jews killed in WW2 by Hitler and his Nazis by the final solution. Now we are the targets of this hatred. We need divine protection. Psalm 91 says God Almighty will give us this protection because He is our defender, He is our protector; He is our rock eternal. He is our God, in whom we trust. A French brigade prayed this every morning in WW1. That brigade survived intact 100% with no casualties, not a single one, the entire duration of WW1. Sometimes, this is called “the soldier’s prayer”. But we need this divine protection even as we pray that God softens the hearts and minds of those who have this hatred in their hearts.
Christians, if you really are one, have love in their hearts because they follow what Jesus says, love your neighbor as yourself. Jesus died for us. He submitted himself willingly to die for us on the cross in Golgotha after much suffering by torture. He did not go around killing people. I mean, this is not hard to understand, is it?
The client owes $60,000 of credit card debt. There’s just no money to pay the $2,000 a month to keep these cards current. It’s time for the client’s fresh start in life without accumulated debt.
Remember, Walt Disney filed for Chapter 7 twice. He was a classic Chapter 7 case twice.
Did he become productive again? He sure did. I’m sure you’ve gone to and enjoyed one of his theme parks. And Milton Hersey filed for Chapter 7 once. He also was a classic Chapter 7 case. Did he become productive again? He sure did. I’m sure you’ve tried one of his famous Hershey chocolate products. They both became billionaires after their classic Chapter 7 cases.
If you need debt relief, please set an appointment to see me. I will analyze your case personally.
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DISCLAIMER: NONE OF THE FOREGOING IS CONSIDERED LEGAL ADVICE. EACH CASE IS DIFFERENT.
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Lawrence Bautista Yang specializes in Bankruptcy, Business, Real Estate and Civil Litigation and has successfully represented more than five thousand clients in California. Please call Angie, Barbara or Jess at (626) 284-1142 for an appointment at 20274 Carrey Road, Walnut, CA 91789 or 1000 S. Fremont Ave., Mailstop 58, Building A-10 South, Suite 10042, Alhambra, CA 91803.