Legal Corner with Matthew S. Brenner, Esq.

Governor Schwarzenegger signed Senate Bill 401, officially enacting the Conformity Act of 2010. Prior to the SB 401, taxpayers who had all or part of the loan balance on their principal residence forgiven by their lender (typically through short sale) were required to report the discharged debt as income and had to pay taxes on the forgiven amount. The new law, along with the federal Mortgage Forgiveness Debt Relief Act and Debt Cancellation, allows homeowners to exclude the forgiven debt from their taxes.

For more information on the new law, go the the State of California Franchise Tax Board webpage.

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About Matthew

Matthew graduated from Whittier Law School and shortly thereafter, decided to pursue a career path in high education. He accepted a position at Southwest Texas State University (now TSU, San Marcos) and relocated one year later to Davis California where he served as a judicial officer in Student Housing for just over five years. He took a detour in 2007 to start an online business with Robert Gavin. Matthew retired from the ticket business in June of 2007. You can still purchase tickets at TicketZoom.

Matthew hung his shingle in 2008 and in 2010 partnered with veteran attorney Steven Solomon to form the law practice Solomon & Brenner. The firm obtained its LLP status in April and is actively representing and protecting California Consumers. The firm handles matters including Lemon Law, Wrongful Debt Collection, Wrongful Credit Reporting, Identity Theft and Fraudulent Sales. You can visit the website at Solomon & Brenner, LLP.