The Law Offices of R. Grace Rodriguez

Relaxing on a Saturday afternoon. Missing my riding friends...

THIS FACEBOOK PAGE CONSTITUTES LEGAL ADVERTISEMENT AND IS FOR ENTERTAINMENT PURPOSES ONLY. THE CONTENTS OF THIS PAGE ARE NOT REPRESENTATIVE OF ANY RESULT YOU WILL ACHIEVE OR ANY RECOMMENDATION SPECIFIC TO ANY ONE PERSON. WE OFFER A FREE CONSULTATION TO DISCUSS YOUR SPECIFIC CIRCUMSTANCES.

Thank you Senator Turner. If it wasn't for your speech I heard in 2016 the fire would never been lit in my heart. You lift all of US up!!

Relaxing on a Saturday afternoon. Missing my riding friends...

Thank you Senator Turner. If it wasn't for your speech I heard in 2016 the fire would never been lit in my heart. You lift all of US up!!

ATTENTION: Pay attention because your taxpreparer may not be. I caught a huge error on a client's tax return that perhaps many preparers may be making. IF YOU TOOK AN IRA DISTRIBUTION during 2020 due to covid to survive, you can claim the income from that IRA distribution spread over 3 years. Take a close look at the tax brackets because the difference up to 53K is nearly double. Let me explain using the person as an example but if your IRA distribution bumped you up a t...ax bracket, explore with your Preparer how dividing it up over three years could help you. I wrote to the Preparer "I noticed an error that is costing her to pay much higher taxes and I wanted to reach out to see if you would be willing to correct the error free of charge. I am reaching out to you as a courtesy and using this as perhaps an education moment for both of us as maybe there is something I am not understanding. Here is the issue: In 2020, ********** took a $49,765 IRA distribution so she could survive during covid. Her regular income was $51,390. She claims Head of Household. The following tax rates apply. 12% - up to 53,700 22% - up to 85,500 So if you deduct her standard deduction of 18,650 from her 51,390, that gives her income of $32,740. If you had divided her 401K distribution into three parts ($16,588) then her 2020 Taxable Income would have only been $49,328 which would have kept her in the 12% tax bracket. By not having broken it into three parts, you put her into the 22% tax rate, making her pay 10% more taxes than she should have had to pay. Her federal taxes should have been $ 5,637, she paid in $4,915. Therefore in 2020, she should have owed only $722 in Taxes instead of $7,089. I would be grateful if you fixed the error

Supporting #Pride2021

Cómo evitar una estafa de mejoras del hogar Agregar una habitación, renovar un sótano o llevar a cabo algunas reparaciones tan necesarias en su casa puede ser un gran proyecto. El primer paso es encontrar un contratista confiable. Los estafadores le prometerán que harán el trabajo, pero dejarán su casa, y su bolsillo, en peor estado que antes de empezar. Puede que hagan trabajos de mala calidad, que dañen su casa, le cobren montos excesivos o simplemente se lleven su dinero s...Continue reading

We are all just one _____ away from homelessness. . . . consider the following individual. He works, as does his wife, takin care of two family members. He has worked for 30 years paid all his bills. Would never have thought about filing for a bankruptcy ever. But then I T happened. . that one event that he never expected. . . Cancer. . . . He was put on disability for a time, but that ran out. . . he had to lean into his credit cards just to keep the utilities on and... pay his rent. . . and have food on the table . . . and then . . . he couldn't keep up with the credit card payments. . . . so he came to see me. . . i can fix the current credit card bills. But he continues to not make enough money and he has no job. the cancer has left him unable to work and he has no disability determination. If it wasn't for his children helping him to survive . .. he would no longer be able to pay the rent. . . what will happen to him and his family if the children cannot help him or they lose a job? We are all literally just ONE thing away . . . . from being one of the people you see on the streets. Please try not to avoid looking at them or greeting them. Show compassion and kindness. . . .

Contemplating borrowing from your 401K to avoid a bankruptcy? You may not want to. This individual borrowed money $30,000 from his 401K to pay off credit card debt! If he would have filed bankruptcy instead, he would be $37K richer because his money would have stayed in his 401K and he would have owed nearly 7,000 less in taxes!. Don't borrower from your retirement to pay off creditors unless you first consult with a bankruptcy attorney. Its Free to consult.

PLEASE DO NOT FILE A CHAPTER 7 BANKRUPTCY USING A PARALEGAL WHEN YOU OWN REAL ESTATE! YOU CAN LOSE IT! Today in the 341a meeting, I saw two couples who used a paralegal services who now are in a position to lose their homes. They were not protected correctly. I dont know what's going on with Chapter 7 Petition Preparers but they are absoutely putting people in a position to lose their homes needlessly. PLEASE CONSULT AN ATTORNEY IF YOU OWN A HOME!

Supporting #Pride2021

DEADLINE FOR LANDLORDS.... SB 91 ...Landlords are required to send a notice to their resident about this new law by no later than February 28, 2021. Failure to do so may affect your ability to evict a resident who fails to comply with CTRA. See Question 3 in Section III of this Industry Insight for more information. On January 29, 2021, Governor Gavin Newsom signed into law SB 91. It took effect immediately. This new law sets the rules for use of the funds allocated to Califo...rnia under the $25 billion emergency rental assistance funding created by the federal Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021 (Public Law 116-260), the federal stimulus bill passed by Congress on December 27, 2020. SB 91 also extends the state’s COVID-19 Tenant Relief Act (CTRA), originally enacted by the Legislature and signed by the Governor on August 31, 2020. It extends the law through June 30, 2021, and enacts new protections for renters related to the COVID-19 pandemic. Call us if you would like us to email you this important report.

Contemplating borrowing from your 401K to avoid a bankruptcy? You may not want to. This individual borrowed money $30,000 from his 401K to pay off credit card debt! If he would have filed bankruptcy instead, he would be $37K richer because his money would have stayed in his 401K and he would have owed nearly 7,000 less in taxes!. Don't borrower from your retirement to pay off creditors unless you first consult with a bankruptcy attorney. Its Free to consult.

Did you know that bankruptcy law iffering Debt forgiveness is rooted in judeo.christian faith? https://reformjudaism.org//t/enslavement-debt-then-and-now

DEADLINE FOR LANDLORDS.... SB 91 ...Landlords are required to send a notice to their resident about this new law by no later than February 28, 2021. Failure to do so may affect your ability to evict a resident who fails to comply with CTRA. See Question 3 in Section III of this Industry Insight for more information. On January 29, 2021, Governor Gavin Newsom signed into law SB 91. It took effect immediately. This new law sets the rules for use of the funds allocated to Califo...rnia under the $25 billion emergency rental assistance funding created by the federal Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021 (Public Law 116-260), the federal stimulus bill passed by Congress on December 27, 2020. SB 91 also extends the state’s COVID-19 Tenant Relief Act (CTRA), originally enacted by the Legislature and signed by the Governor on August 31, 2020. It extends the law through June 30, 2021, and enacts new protections for renters related to the COVID-19 pandemic. Call us if you would like us to email you this important report.

PROPOSITION 19 ALERT - DEADLINE FAST APPROACHING 2/16/2021 - this is not legal advice as individual circumstances vary, but this is something you should start thinking about now. If you have investment property NOW is the time to transfer to an LLC to avoid reassessment for property tax purposes. For primary residences, you may want to consider an irrevocable trust for the benefit of your children to create greater protection from reassessment. EXAMPLE: Say today you have... a $900,000 home which you purchased for $250,000 back in 1985. Your current property tax basis has gone up to about $300,000 and your annual property taxes are about $3,000 a year. For capital gains purposes with improvements you have done let's say your Income Tax basis is at around $270,000.00. You want to give your home to your children to use as a rental after you pass on. If you don't do anything, under Proposition 19, when you both die, your children will inherit the property and the property tax basis will go up to $900,000, meaning property taxes will increase to $9,000 a year approximately. OPTION 1: You can do nothing and hope that Prop. 19 will be overturned in the future (this is why I told everyone to vote NO.) OPTION 2: BEFORE 2/16/2021 You can transfer your residence to your children now, structure it as an installment sale, otherwise if you gift it to them you would have to file a 709 with the IRS to report the gift. You can continue to live there. You should have a rental agreement with your children that you will pay rent at FMV, and in turn your children will return the rent to you as an installment payment on the loan for the sale of the property to them. This is the way you can preserve your your Property Tax Basis with a Parent to Child Exclusion taken now. But it may mean that if they sell it after you die, they will pay the capital gains on it with a tax basis based upon when you bought your home. OPTION 3: Transfer your home into an irrevocable trust for the benefit of your children before 2/16/2021 such that it is a present transfer of the asset before Prop 19 goes into effect, and take advantage of the parent child exclusion. But you will lose the "Step Up" in the income tax basis at death per IRC Sec. 104. BUT there is no guarantee that the "step up" won't be nixed in coming years, it wont matter if your children plan on keeping the "family home" and living in it. If you are not sure what to do, give us a call so I can analyze your specific situation and make a recommendation.

Where are all my ITT Tech people? Check out if you qualify for student loan debt forgiveness. #FoxBusiness

Five important things to consider when trying to settle debt with your creditors to avoid bankruptcy. The golden rule is you must almost never empty a retirement account to pay credit cards. Its a huge.mistake to do so. Call me and let me help you strategize!!

Settling a Debt. Attorney R. Grace Rodriguez discusses options for avoiding bankruptcy by settling your dad. What to look out for to have a good settlement.

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/lapd-devonshire-pals-night-at- As one of the event Sponsors I invite you all to support the good work this organization does for the youth in our community. Organized in 1973, Devonshire PALS is dedicated to developing character in youth, reducing juvenile crime and creating safer communities. We do this by providing after-school enrichment programs for low-income, at-risk children and teens that build strong, positive relationships between yo...uth and law enforcement officers. Due to the tremendous need for youth programs in the southern section of Northridge, and with a community determined to help, PALS built a youth center in this underserved neighborhood. We celebrated the center’s grand opening in October 2009. In 2020, the rise of the Black Live Movement has been essential towards raising awareness of the disparity of treatment of people of color and the institutional racism which has been a part of our society since it began. Black Lives must Matter until they actually do! Its time we stop thinking that our Police Officers are the cure for every problem that ails us. We must root out the discriminatory practices of profiling as the basis of engaging with the public. We must stop the demands that our police officers be expected to be both social workers and safety providers. Let's keep our offices focused on keeping us safe, and spend more money on providing social services to the community to ease the burden on our officers! But let's continue building good relationships between our officers and our community by engaging with our youth to foster better relations among all people. Come join this important organization for a Night at the Races!

New Logo to Compliment our new website. Come check us out! LORGR.com

There are a lot of great men and women in law enforcement. There are a lot of great people who are activist to end the structure of system racism and classism that persists. The great men and women of law enforcement can join hands with our BLM activists creating a better outcome for everyone, without exception.

Pleased to announce the grand opening of our Santa Barbara Office located at 1117 State Street, Santa Barbara, CA 93101

Monday, June 1, is another day Rent is Due. What the hell do you do if you can't pay the rent? Contact the Coalition for Economic Survival Email Tenant Hotline at [email protected] and They can provide you with information on your tenants' rights. Make sure to include your address, if you know you're covered by rent control, the year the building was built if you know it and a short description of your situation.

If you are a business owner who is caught up in a lease and you are thinking about closing your business, but afraid about the consequences of the lease give me call I have some ideas for you.

FHA has just announced new homeownership retention options as a guideline to lenders. Help is available. Call us today. Under the new guidelines which were jointly developed with Freddie Mac at the direction of the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA). That workout option was created to assist borrowers who became delinquent due to a short-term hardship that has since been resolved. In response to the COVID-19 pandemic and servicer feedback, we are introducing COVID-19 p...ayment deferral, a new workout option specifically designed to help borrowers impacted by a hardship related to COVID-19 return their mortgage to a current status after up to 12 months of missed payments. Designed to be simple and efficient for both servicers and borrowers, this solution is for borrowers who have completed a COVID-19 related forbearance plan, or who have a confirmed but resolved COVID19 financial hardship. COVID-19 payment deferral was jointly developed with Freddie Mac at the direction of FHFA. COVID-19 payment deferral offers servicers: A solution that is simple to explain to borrowers, as the amount of their delinquency moves into a non-interest bearing balance, due and payable at maturity of the mortgage loan or earlier payoff; and all other terms of the mortgage remain unchanged. No trial period, resulting in fewer borrower touchpoints than required for modifications. An efficient automated process through Servicing Management Default Underwriter for evaluation and decisioning case submissions. While COVID-19 payment deferral is similar to the recently announced payment deferral, we have made several enhancements to assist borrowers who have a COVID-19 related hardship. Key differences include: The borrower has experienced a financial hardship resulting from COVID-19 that impacted their ability to make their monthly mortgage loan payment, which has been resolved. The mortgage loan must have been current or less than 31 days delinquent as of Mar. 1, 2020, the effective date of the National Emergency declaration related to COVID-19. The mortgage loan must be 31 or more days delinquent but less than or equal to 360 days delinquent as of the date of evaluation. Certain eligibility criteria are not applicable, such as time from mortgage loan origination and rolling delinquency parameters. The servicer must defer the delinquent principal and interest payments (P&I) together with any allowable servicing advances paid to third parties as a result of the delinquency into the non-interest bearing balance.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MUGdbndk99w Estate Planning, What it is and why you need it.

https://apeopleschoice.com/is-a-medi-cal-asset-protection-/ A MediCal Protective Trust may not be needed.