Costa Mesa Bankruptcy Lawyer
The goal in a bankruptcy case is simple to state: the calls stop, the lawsuit goes away, the paycheck and the bank account are left alone, and you keep the home and car you need. Wadhwani & Shanfeld is a consumer bankruptcy and debt relief law firm that helps people in Costa Mesa and across Orange County reach that point through Chapter 7, Chapter 13, debt settlement, foreclosure defense, wage garnishment relief, and defense of creditor lawsuits. If you are searching for a Costa Mesa bankruptcy lawyer, you can speak with an attorney on the first call, and the free consultation can be handled entirely by phone, email, video, or online chat.
Costa Mesa cases tend to share a few features. Rents and housing costs in coastal Orange County are high, so a single missed paycheck can snowball into card balances, a repossession, or a mortgage default. Many local filers are also self-employed, work in hospitality, retail, or contract trades, or have income that swings from month to month. Those details drive which chapter fits, which exemptions matter, and how quickly you need to act.
What Happens, Stage by Stage, When a Costa Mesa Resident Files
Most cases follow a predictable sequence. First comes a review of your income, expenses, property, and debts. For a Chapter 7, that review centers on the means test, which compares your household income to the California median for your household size and then accounts for allowed expenses. For a Chapter 13, it centers on whether your income is steady enough to fund a three to five year plan.
Next, the petition and schedules are prepared and filed. Because you live in Orange County, your case belongs in the Santa Ana Division of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Central District of California, which serves all of Orange County. The division is determined by the street address where you live, not a P.O. box. The automatic stay takes effect the moment the petition is filed, and most collection activity must stop right then.
After filing, you attend a meeting of creditors with the trustee. Many clients handle this by phone or video through us. In a Chapter 7, most cases finish in roughly four months and end with a discharge. In a Chapter 13, the court confirms a plan, you make one monthly payment over three to five years, and creditors are bound by that plan.
Why Choose Wadhwani & Shanfeld for Bankruptcy Help in Costa Mesa
Wadhwani & Shanfeld has helped more than 30,000 individuals and families resolve debt, and the firm serves clients throughout Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, and San Bernardino Counties. The team is led by two Board-Certified Specialists in Consumer Bankruptcy, certified through the American Board of Certification, with more than 90 years of combined legal experience. You get direct access to an attorney from your first call, and the firm moves fast when a garnishment, foreclosure sale, or repossession is days away.
Raj Wadhwani, a founding shareholder and a Southwestern Law School graduate, helped pilot the Best Case Bankruptcy software in 1998 and was the first attorney to file a bankruptcy case electronically in the Central District of California. Greg Shanfeld, also a founding shareholder, earned his law degree from the University of Southern California and has handled more than 10,000 bankruptcy cases over three decades. The firm files in every division of the Central District, which matters when your address, a prior move, or a business location raises a question about where a case belongs.
Because the firm handles both bankruptcy and its alternatives, the recommendation you get is based on what works for your finances, not on the only service a firm happens to sell. Sometimes that is Chapter 7, sometimes Chapter 13, and sometimes debt settlement or a negotiated resolution without filing at all.
Debt Situations That Bring Costa Mesa Clients to Us
- Credit Card and Medical Debt: Unsecured balances are the classic Chapter 7 target. If your income passes the means test, these debts can be discharged entirely, along with personal loans and payday loans.
- Creditor Lawsuits and Judgments: Collection firms file in the Orange County Superior Court, and a default judgment can follow if no written answer is filed. A bankruptcy filing halts the suit and any enforcement of an existing judgment.
- Wage Garnishment: Once a creditor holds a judgment, it can take a share of each paycheck. Filing Chapter 7 or Chapter 13 stops most garnishments when the case is filed.
- Bank Levies: A levy can freeze your account. California protects a set amount in a deposit account automatically, but only a bankruptcy filing or a successful exemption claim keeps the rest.
- Mortgage Default and Foreclosure: Chapter 13 lets you catch up missed payments over time and stop a scheduled sale. In some cases it can also strip off a wholly unsecured second mortgage.
- Car Repossession and Deficiency Balances: A deficiency left after a repossession is unsecured debt that Chapter 7 can discharge, and Chapter 13 can help you keep a vehicle you are behind on.
- IRS Tax Debt: Some older income tax debt can be discharged if it meets specific timing rules, and Chapter 13 can repay priority taxes over the plan.
- Small Business and Self-Employment Debt: Personal guarantees on business loans and cards can land on the owner. We handle small business bankruptcy and business debt solutions.
What to Do Right Now, and Where Your Case Will Be Heard
Start by gathering what you have received: lawsuit papers, garnishment notices, foreclosure notices, repossession letters, and recent pay stubs and bank statements. Do not throw away anything from a collector or a court. The date on a summons matters more than anything else in the stack.
If you have been served with a lawsuit, you must file a written answer by the deadline on the summons. A debt that is past the statute of limitations is a defense, but it only works if you raise it in that answer; if you ignore the papers, the court can still enter judgment. The limit is four years for debts on a written contract and two years for oral contracts. A payment on an old, time-barred debt does not revive it, and only a signed written acknowledgment restarts the clock. Call before your response deadline passes so we can decide whether to answer, negotiate, or file.
If a foreclosure is underway, timing is on a statutory clock. A sale cannot be set until about three months and 20 days after the notice of default is recorded, the notice of sale must be mailed and posted at least 20 days before the sale, and a monetary default can be reinstated until five business days before the sale date. If a sale date is already on the calendar, call immediately, because a filing stops the sale.
If your vehicle was repossessed, the lender must send written notice of its plan to sell the car at least 15 days ahead (20 days if the notice is mailed from or to an address outside California). You can ask in writing for a 10-day extension of the redemption period. A deficiency claim is only valid if the notice goes out within 60 days of repossession and contains the required items.
Your bankruptcy case itself would be filed with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Santa Ana, while collection lawsuits against Costa Mesa residents are heard by the Orange County Superior Court. Avoid the common mistakes: paying one creditor ahead of others just before filing, moving money to relatives, letting a response deadline pass, or hiring a petition preparer who cannot give legal advice or defend you if a trustee raises an objection.
Keeping Your Home, Car, and Savings Under California Exemption Rules
Most Costa Mesa clients keep everything they own. California has opted out of the federal exemption list, so you choose one of two state systems and must use that system for the whole case. One system, the standard California exemptions, includes a homestead exemption that is the greater of a statutory floor or the prior-year countywide median single-family sale price, up to a cap. Because Orange County home prices are high, this system often matters a great deal for owners with equity. The other system offers a smaller residence exemption but a flexible wildcard that can cover cash, bank accounts, or other property, and it often suits renters.
To use California’s exemptions you generally must have lived in the state for at least 730 days. The dollar amounts in both systems are adjusted periodically, so we confirm current figures against your actual equity before choosing. Picking the wrong system can cost a filer property, which is why this decision gets careful attention in every case.
Wage garnishment limits also matter if you are being sued but have not yet filed. On an ordinary judgment, the garnished amount is capped at the lesser of 20 percent of weekly disposable earnings or the amount by which those earnings exceed 48 times the applicable minimum hourly wage. You can also claim an exemption for earnings needed to support your family, and your employer cannot fire you because of garnishment on a single judgment. Judgments themselves are enforceable for 10 years and can be renewed, though recent law limits renewal to one time, for five years, on certain medical and smaller personal debt judgments.
Costa Mesa Bankruptcy Questions We Hear Most
How fast does the automatic stay stop collection?
It takes effect the moment your petition is filed. Creditors must stop calls, lawsuits, garnishments, levies, and foreclosure and repossession activity. When a sale or levy is days away, we can often prepare and file quickly.
Will I lose my home if I file in Costa Mesa?
Most clients keep their homes. In Chapter 7 the question is whether your equity is protected by California’s homestead exemption and whether you are current on the mortgage. If equity exceeds the exemption or you are behind, Chapter 13 can let you keep the home and catch up over time.
What debts can bankruptcy eliminate?
Credit cards, medical bills, personal loans, payday loans, and deficiency balances after repossession or foreclosure are commonly discharged. Some older income taxes qualify under timing rules. Child support, alimony, most student loans, most government fines, and debts from drunk driving injuries generally cannot be discharged.
Which court will hear my case?
An Orange County address places your case in the Santa Ana Division of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Central District of California. The division follows the street address where you live.
Do I have to come into an office?
No. We handle cases fully by phone, email, video, and online chat, and consultations can be 100 percent virtual. Clients who prefer to meet in person can do so.
How long does bankruptcy stay on my credit report?
A Chapter 7 can remain for up to 10 years from filing, and a Chapter 13 is typically removed after 7 years. The effect on your score fades well before then, and many clients begin rebuilding within the first year.
Can I file again if I have filed before?
Yes, with waiting periods. You must wait 8 years between Chapter 7 filings, 4 years to file Chapter 13 after a Chapter 7, 2 years between Chapter 13 filings, and generally 6 years to file Chapter 7 after a Chapter 13, though that last period can be shortened if your plan paid enough to unsecured creditors.
A debt collector sued me over a very old credit card. Do I have to pay?
Not necessarily. A written-contract debt generally has a four-year limit, and an expired deadline is a defense you must raise in a written answer. Do not make a payment or sign anything acknowledging the debt before talking to an attorney, since a signed acknowledgment can restart the clock.
Can a collector be sued for harassing me in California?
Under the Rosenthal Act, which covers original creditors as well as third-party collectors, you can recover actual damages, plus an additional $100 to $1,000 if the collector acted willfully and knowingly, along with attorney fees if you prevail. The suit must be filed within one year, and a collector can avoid liability by correcting a curable violation within 15 days of learning of it.
Will my employer find out I filed?
Not automatically. They may learn if they are a creditor, if a garnishment has to stop, or if Chapter 13 payments are deducted from your pay. California and federal law bar an employer from firing you solely because you filed.
Is a bank account protected from a levy?
California automatically shields a set amount in your deposit account from a levy by a judgment creditor, and the bank applies it without a claim from you. The protection does not apply to levies for wages owed to another, child or spousal support, or debts owed to the state, and the amount is adjusted periodically.
Is it worth hiring a lawyer if my debt is not huge?
Often yes. Mistakes in a filing can cost you property or your discharge, and a petition preparer cannot advise you, choose your exemptions, or represent you if a trustee or creditor objects. A free consultation will tell you whether bankruptcy, settlement, or doing nothing makes the most sense.
Bankruptcy Representation Across Costa Mesa and the Rest of Orange County
We represent clients in Costa Mesa and throughout Orange County, including nearby Newport Beach, Huntington Beach, Santa Ana, Garden Grove, Fullerton, Anaheim, Westminster, Tustin, Buena Park, La Habra, Placentia, Mission Viejo, and Laguna Niguel. Those communities, along with Cypress, Cerritos, Norwalk, Bellflower, Paramount, Gardena, Signal Hill, and Huntington Park, make up the Orange County and southeast Los Angeles County area we work in every day.
Our reach extends across Southern California: Los Angeles, Long Beach, Lakewood, Torrance, Compton, and Inglewood; the San Fernando Valley communities of Sherman Oaks, Van Nuys, Encino, Woodland Hills, Reseda, Northridge, Granada Hills, North Hollywood, and Sylmar; the Westside, Hollywood, and Santa Monica; Santa Clarita, Lancaster, Palmdale, Acton, and the Antelope Valley; and the Inland Empire, including Ontario, Rancho Cucamonga, Upland, Fontana, San Bernardino, Pomona, Chino, Chino Hills, Montclair, Claremont, Glendora, West Covina, Riverside, and the Coachella Valley.
Talk to a Costa Mesa Bankruptcy Attorney Today
If creditors are calling, a lawsuit has been served, or a sale date is on the calendar, talk to a Costa Mesa bankruptcy attorney at Wadhwani & Shanfeld before the next deadline passes. Call for a free consultation and speak directly with an attorney, who will review your situation, explain every option inside and outside of bankruptcy, and tell you honestly which path gives you the best fresh start. You can handle the entire process remotely, so you can get started today from wherever you are.
