“There are special laws that allow middle class families to avoid paying thousands of dollars out of their pocket monthly for nursing home care, assisted living care and home care. So, why get financially devastated when a health crisis happens that cannot be avoided?” CHAPTER 13 Client is 68 and relies on social security of…
National origin is not a bar to recovery Immigrants are a growing part of the labor force in the United States. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, in 2014, there were 25.7 million foreign-born persons in the US labor force, comprising 16.5 percent of the total workforce. According to the Office of Occupational Safety,…
How long do you have to keep tax records? How long can the IRS audit your tax returns? Let’s discuss 10 tips on statute of limitations so you can clean your garage this weekend. Statute of limitations provides final dates after which neither you nor the IRS can be disturbed by the other. • From…
Deciding if bankruptcy is right for you can be one of the most important decisions you’ll ever make in your life. As much as possible, most people try to avoid it, of course. But sometimes, the hole you’ve dug up is too deep that there is no other way out. For example, perhaps you owe…
Client seeks Chapter 11 reorganization to save business; senior seeks Chapter 13 reorganization instead of reverse mortgage after two loan modification denials CLIENT NO. 1 is 58. Divorced and remarried. He has spent the last 20 years building up his business in Los Angeles. He started with importation of construction materials direct from manufacturers in Asia,…
Privacy suit filed against doctor and hospital Norma Lozano was a patient at UCLA Medical Center. According to the Daily Journal, she had been fighting with Dedreck Harris, her ex-boyfriend. Harris’ current girlfriend, Alexis Price, worked as a medical assistant for Dr. John Edwards, a private doctor who had access to UCLA’s health records. Even…
The IRS issued new guidance requiring individuals with an interest in a “specified foreign financial asset” to attach a disclosure statement to your income tax return for any year in which the aggregate value of all such assets exceeds $50,000. Use new form Form 8938 (Statement of Specified Foreign Financial Assets) starting in 2011. Q….
Life is all about making choices. The choices we make today determine our future. What will my life be like 3, 5 or 10 years for now? Will I be financially secure? Will I remain in the same dead-end job or perhaps move somewhere else that makes my time more worthwhile? Will I be able…
Get rid of your debts now and get a head start to live up to 120! CLIENT no. 1 Client is 65. She presents her financial problem thus. Both she and her husband were gainfully employed for the last 20 years. They are both professionals. Husband was making $100K a year with a cushy job…
Mayra Casas worked as a sales clerk for Victoria’s Secret in one of the company’s California stores. Casas claimed that she, and other employees, were required by the company to “call-in” two hours before their scheduled shift to see if work was available. If there was no work for them, they should not show up….
New Foreign bank account rules were designed to combat money laundering, terrorism, and tax evasion. Unfortunately, folks like you and me get snared in the process. We get penalized if we don’t follow the new rules. I have written a series of simplified articles on this subject to help you understand the new rules and…
The last few years have been financially difficult for a lot of people. When the real estate marked crashed a few years ago, millions of people found themselves with a mortgage they could not afford. A lot of people simply walked away from their homes out of desperation in some cases, they were forced out…
SECTION 707 (b) of the bankruptcy code is the provision that allows the dismissal of a Chapter 7 case if there is a “presumption of abuse” of bankruptcy law. This is applied to individuals with primarily consumer debts. So if the individual who seeks Chapter 7 relief has primarily business debts this provision would not…
ROBERT Wascher, M.D. began working as a cancer surgeon for Southern California Permanente Medical Group (“Kaiser”) in 2009. He was the only specialty-trained cancer surgeon for Kaiser’s 440,000 patients in Orange County. Dr. Wascher expressed concern to Kaiser that non-trained surgeons were allowed to perform complex cancer surgeries resulting in high death rates among patients….
IF you have offshore bank accounts, should you report the accounts to the U.S. government? Yes, if the aggregate balances exceed $10,000 at any time during the year. What if you had the accounts before you left for the U.S.? Yes, you should. There are reasons why our government wants to know: combat money laundering,…
BANKRUPTCY is a bad word every business owner is working hard to avoid. And, yet, it’s also a tool given to entrepreneurs as an encouragement to take risks and be able to have a fresh start when things don’t work out. The last few years have been tough for a lot of small business owners….
Wildly succesful people who sought fresh start with bankruptcy ARTICLE I, Section 8, of the United States Constitution authorizes Congress to enact “uniform Laws on the subject of Bankruptcies.” Under this grant of authority, Congress enacted the “Bankruptcy Code” in 1978 and 2005. The new Bankruptcy Code, which is codified as title 11 of the United…
Employer’s failure may be disability discrimination PATRICIA Hancock was a warehouse worker for Time Warner Cable for 8 years in its Bellflower facility. Part of her job was to pull heavy pallets of cable boxes. In August 2011, she injured her neck and reported it to her supervisor. According to Hancock, the supervisor responded “OK” without…
THERE are three basic types of IRS audits: correspondence, office, and field examinations. Today’s topics are correspondence audits, the simplest of the three. Here are 10 tips for you: 1. Respond promptly. You have 30 days to call or write back. 2. If you cannot, request for an extension of time in writing before the…
ARE you sick and tired of being in debt and having bad credit? Do you want to start over but simply don’t know where to begin? Is filing bankruptcy an option for you or are other options available? As we go past the middle of this year, this is a good time to look at…
Young seniors seek chapter 7 relief for $26K credit card debts SECTION 523(a)(4) and (a)(6) of the bankruptcy code states that any debt that arises from “fraud or defalcation while acting in a fiduciary capacity, embezzlement, or larceny, or arising from a “willful and malicious injury by the debtor to another entity or to the…
“ California law allows employers to require its employees to wear uniforms as a condition of employment. Employers may prescribe the weight, color, texture, style, form, and make of uniforms required to be worn by their employees.” Q: I WORK at a clothing store in California as an hourly employee. Our employer requires us to…
Choosing the proper entity for your business (Part 4 of 5) LIMITED LIABILITY COMPANY (LLC) is a hybrid that combines the pass-through attributes of a partnership with the limited liability of a corporation. An LLC with more than one member is taxed as a partnership (or as a corporation if not organized properly). The owners…
IN 1912, the sinking of the mighty ship called the “Titanic” sent 1,516 people to a watery grave. The “Titanic”, first thought to be unsinkable, sank to the bottom of the ocean. Everyone was shocked because no one thought that this was possible. Could this tragedy have been avoided? The answer is YES. It was…
Tell me about your day. Do you find yourself working into the wee hours of the night thinking about customers and growing your business? Do you believe that saving a penny is better than investing a penny? Does a jack of all trades, but a master of none describe you? For all too many people,…
Senior seeks Chapter 7 relief for $5K debt THERE are clients who received a large amount of cash before they file for bankruptcy. They may have received cash from a refinance of their residence with net cash out, obtained a business loan, or sold an asset. These, and similar type of transactions, generate cash for…
SEARS Department Store in North Hollywood, California, hired Alejandro Gamiz in 2005 as a maintenance worker. From 2009 to 2012, while working for Sears, Gamiz created peep holes in the women’s restrooms and dressing rooms and the children’s dressing rooms in order to spy on them while they’re undressing in these rooms. Gamiz also installed…
Choosing the proper entity for your business (Part 3 of 5) S CORPORATION is a corporation that has elected to be taxed under Subchapter S of the Internal Revenue Code. This type of entity enjoys both the limited liability of corporations and absence of double taxation of sole proprietorships and partnerships. The corporation elects to be…
A CLIENT of mine said he never saw it coming. Everything he ever wanted in life, he always purchased on credit. The “pre-approved” credit cards just kept coming in the mail and he never said NO to any of them. Buy now and pay later, why not? As long as they allow you to pay…
PEOPLE with diabetes are mindful of their bodies’ feedback. Effective diabetes management requires frequent blood sugar checks, careful dietary planning, and close monitoring of other symptoms. But with all the things diabetics have to consider, they often miss warning signs from another crucial area—the mouth. Why are oral care and diabetes so intertwined? Recent studies have revealed…
