San Bernardino County Bankruptcy Lawyer
Anyone in San Bernardino County who files for bankruptcy does so in the Riverside Division of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Central District of California, which handles both Riverside and San Bernardino County cases. Wadhwani & Shanfeld is a consumer bankruptcy and debt relief firm that takes on Chapter 7, Chapter 13, debt settlement, foreclosure defense, wage garnishment, and creditor lawsuits for families throughout San Bernardino County, and a San Bernardino County bankruptcy lawyer from our firm can speak with you directly the day you call.
The practical stakes here tend to be concrete: a paycheck being cut by a garnishment, a bank account frozen by a levy, a trustee’s sale date on a home, or a lender about to sell a repossessed truck. Each of these runs on a statutory clock, and the clocks are shorter than most people expect. Some of them can be stopped entirely by a bankruptcy filing, and some are better handled by other means. Knowing which is which is the first job of the attorney you talk to.
Why Choose Wadhwani & Shanfeld for Bankruptcy Help in San Bernardino County
Wadhwani & Shanfeld is a Southern California consumer bankruptcy and debt relief law firm that has helped more than 30,000 individuals and families across Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, and San Bernardino Counties. The firm is led by two Board-Certified Specialists in Consumer Bankruptcy, certified through the American Board of Certification, and together its attorneys bring more than 90 years of combined legal experience. Clients get direct access to an attorney from the first call, a free consultation, and the option to handle everything by phone, email, video, or online chat, including fully virtual consultations. When a garnishment, foreclosure sale, or repossession is only days away, the firm acts fast.
Raj Wadhwani, a founding shareholder and partner, is a Board-Certified Specialist in Consumer Bankruptcy and a Southwestern Law School graduate. He 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. For a client, that history means familiarity with how filings actually move through the court’s system. Greg Shanfeld, also a founding shareholder and partner and a Board-Certified Specialist in Consumer Bankruptcy, earned his law degree at the University of Southern California and has handled more than 10,000 bankruptcy cases over three decades. That volume matters when a trustee questions an exemption or a creditor objects, because those are situations a lawyer handles well only after seeing them many times.
The firm files in every division of the Central District, so a San Bernardino County case is not an out-of-town matter for us. We build each plan around your income, your property, and your goals rather than pushing a single filing type, and because we also handle settlement, loan modification, IRS representation, and small business debt, our recommendation is not limited to the one service a firm happens to sell.
Debt Situations We See Most Often in San Bernardino County
- Credit Card and Medical Debt: Unsecured balances that have climbed beyond what your income can service are the classic Chapter 7 case, discharged if you pass the means test, which compares your household income to the California median for your household size and then accounts for allowable expenses.
- Mortgage Default and Foreclosure: Inland Empire homeowners who fall behind on a first mortgage often find Chapter 13 the better tool, since it lets you cure arrears over three to five years while keeping the property. A wholly unsecured second mortgage can sometimes be stripped off in the same case.
- Wage Garnishment: A creditor holding a judgment can take a portion of each paycheck, and a bankruptcy filing stops most garnishments the moment the case is opened.
- Bank Levies: Judgment creditors can freeze and seize funds in a checking account. Filing halts a levy that has not yet been completed.
- Repossession and Auto Deficiencies: After a vehicle is sold, the lender may pursue the shortfall. That deficiency is generally dischargeable, and Chapter 13 can help you keep a car you are behind on.
- Creditor Lawsuits and Judgments: Collection firms file suit in San Bernardino Superior Court, and once a judgment is entered it becomes a tool for garnishment, levy, and liens on real property.
- IRS Tax Debt: Older income tax debt can sometimes be discharged if it satisfies timing rules, while recent taxes are priority debts better handled in Chapter 13 or through IRS negotiation.
- Small Business Debt: Owners who personally guaranteed business loans or credit lines often carry that debt individually, which makes consumer bankruptcy a practical route.
What to Do When Collection or Foreclosure Is Closing In
Start by gathering every piece of paper you have received: summonses, notices of default, notices of sale, garnishment orders, repossession letters. Dates on these documents drive the strategy. A civil lawsuit generally filed in San Bernardino County is heard at the San Bernardino Justice Center, and in the Rancho Cucamonga and Victorville areas civil matters have been shifting to those local courthouses, so check the summons for the courthouse named on it. If you were served, the response deadline is firm, and ignoring it invites a default judgment. Call before it passes so an attorney can decide whether to answer, negotiate, or file bankruptcy.
Foreclosure follows its own schedule. After a notice of default is recorded, a sale date cannot be set until roughly 90 days later, and the sale itself cannot occur earlier than three months and 20 days after the notice of default. The notice of sale must be mailed and posted at least 20 days before the sale. You may reinstate a monetary default by paying what is owed until five business days before the sale date, and a bankruptcy filing stops the sale outright when the case is opened. If a sale is postponed by 10 business days or more, the lender owes you written notice of the new date within five business days.
For a repossessed vehicle, the lender must send at least 15 days’ written notice of its plan to sell, extended to 20 days when 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 that notice went out within 60 days of repossession and contained the required content, and after the sale you are entitled to an accounting within 45 days if you ask. Defects in these notices are real defenses, and we check them before recommending a course of action.
Do not pay a creditor out of panic before speaking with a lawyer. A payment on a time-barred debt does not revive it, but a hurried signed acknowledgment can. Likewise, do not move money or transfer property to a relative, because trustees review those transactions. When you file, your case is assigned to the Riverside Division, and your street address, not a P.O. box, determines the filing division. We handle the filing from there, including the trustee meeting and any contact with the court.
How California’s Exemptions Decide What You Keep
The question most San Bernardino County homeowners and car owners ask is what they will lose. Often the answer is nothing, because California has opted out of the federal exemption scheme and requires filers to choose one of two state systems for the entire case. One, found in CCP section 704, carries a large homestead exemption for homeowners. The other, under section 703.140(b), offers a smaller residence exemption but includes a wildcard that can be applied to any property, which frequently suits renters or people with modest assets. You must have lived in California at least 730 days to use these exemptions.
The homestead amount is tied to the prior year’s countywide median single-family home price, bounded by a statutory floor and a ceiling that are indexed to inflation. Because San Bernardino County values differ from coastal counties, running the real numbers on your equity matters before choosing a system. The dollar amounts under the alternative system are adjusted every three years, so we use the current figures when we prepare your schedules. Choosing the wrong system can expose equity a trustee could sell, which is why this is the decision our board-certified attorneys make most carefully.
Wage Garnishment, Bank Levies, and the Age of the Debt
On an ordinary judgment, a garnishment cannot exceed the lesser of 20 percent of your weekly disposable earnings or 40 percent of the amount by which those earnings exceed 48 times the applicable minimum hourly wage; biweekly, semimonthly, and monthly paychecks use 96, 104, and 208 times that wage. If the local minimum wage is higher than the state’s, the higher figure is used. You can also claim that part of your earnings is necessary to support yourself or your family. Your employer may not fire you because of a garnishment on a single judgment.
Bank accounts carry an automatic protected amount per judgment debtor, which the bank must apply without your filing a claim, though it does not protect against levies for wages owed to someone else, support, or debts owed to the state. Separately, the age of a debt matters. A written contract or book account debt generally carries a four-year limitations period, and an oral contract debt two years, but the expiration is a defense you must raise in a written answer, or a court can still enter judgment. A California money judgment is enforceable for 10 years and can be renewed, though newer rules limit renewal to a single five-year extension for qualifying medical and personal debt judgments under the stated principal caps.
California’s Rosenthal Act also gives consumers a remedy when collectors cross the line. It covers original creditors as well as third-party collectors, allows actual damages plus additional statutory damages of $100 to $1,000 for willful and knowing violations, permits attorney fees to a prevailing consumer, and carries a one-year limitations period for suit.
Questions San Bernardino County Residents Ask About Bankruptcy
Which court will hear my bankruptcy case?
San Bernardino County cases are filed in the Riverside Division of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Central District of California. The division is assigned by your residential street address, not a mailing address.
Can I stop a foreclosure sale in San Bernardino County by filing?
Yes. The automatic stay takes effect the moment the petition is filed and halts the sale. Chapter 13 then allows you to catch up missed payments over time. Filing before the sale date is what matters, so call as soon as you see a notice of sale.
Will I lose my house in Chapter 7?
Most of our clients keep their homes. If your equity falls within California’s homestead exemption and you remain current on the mortgage, the home is protected. When equity exceeds the exemption, or you are behind on payments, Chapter 13 is usually the better path.
How fast does bankruptcy stop a wage garnishment?
The stay applies upon filing, so most garnishments end when the case is opened. Your employer must be told to stop, and we help coordinate that so a paycheck is not taken in the interim.
What debts can bankruptcy not eliminate?
Child support, alimony, most student loans, most government fines, and debts from injuries caused by drunk driving generally survive. Recent income taxes usually survive too, though older tax debt can be discharged if timing rules are met.
How soon can I file again after a prior bankruptcy?
You must wait 8 years between Chapter 7 filings, 4 years to file Chapter 13 after a Chapter 7, and 2 years between Chapter 13 filings. Filing Chapter 7 after a Chapter 13 generally requires 6 years, though that can be shortened if the plan paid enough to unsecured creditors.
Is it worth hiring a lawyer instead of using a petition preparer?
A preparer can type your forms but cannot advise you, choose your exemption system, or represent you if a trustee or creditor objects. Errors can cost you property or your discharge, which is the central reason to use a bankruptcy attorney.
A collection firm sued me over a very old credit card. Do I have to pay?
Not necessarily. If the claim rests on a written contract or book account and more than four years have passed, the limitations period may have run, but you must raise that defense in a written answer. Making a payment cannot revive an already time-barred debt, though a signed written acknowledgment can restart the clock in other circumstances, so avoid signing anything before consulting us.
If a judgment against me is nearly 10 years old, is it still collectible?
Judgments are enforceable for 10 years from entry, and the creditor can apply to renew. Recent rules limit renewal to one five-year extension for certain medical and personal debt judgments below the stated principal limits. We check the entry date and renewal history before advising you.
Will my employer find out I filed?
Not automatically. They may learn if they are a creditor, if a garnishment must be stopped, or if Chapter 13 payments come out of your pay. State and federal law bar an employer from firing you solely for filing bankruptcy.
Can I meet with an attorney without driving anywhere?
Yes. We handle cases fully by phone, email, video, and online chat, and virtual consultations are available, so you do not have to travel across the county to get an answer.
Serving Bankruptcy Clients Across San Bernardino County and the Inland Empire
Our San Bernardino County bankruptcy representation reaches the Inland Empire from the valley floor to the high desert’s edge. We work with clients in San Bernardino, Fontana, Rancho Cucamonga, Upland, Ontario, Chino, Chino Hills, Montclair, and Claremont, as well as Pomona and Glendora along the eastern San Gabriel Valley. Because the Riverside Division also covers Riverside County, we regularly serve neighbors in the city of Riverside and the Coachella Valley, and our reach continues into Los Angeles, Orange, and the rest of Southern California. Whether your case begins with a summons from a Superior Court clerk, a notice in the mail, or a pay stub that looks wrong, you can reach an attorney by phone or video without leaving your community.
Talk to a San Bernardino County Bankruptcy Attorney Today
If a garnishment, lawsuit, foreclosure notice, or repossession letter is already in your hands, the most useful thing you can do is speak with a San Bernardino County bankruptcy attorney before a deadline passes. Call Wadhwani & Shanfeld for a free consultation. You will speak directly with an attorney, hear every option inside and outside of bankruptcy, and get an honest read on which route gives you the best chance at a lasting fresh start.
