Does the Automatic Stay Follow my Bankruptcy Discharge?
Many times debtors complete the bankruptcy process and are relieved to start fresh from a financial standpoint. Unfortunately, debtors may continue receiving incoming calls from creditors whose balances against the debtor should have been discharged. It begs the question, does the automatic stay continue after the bankruptcy discharge?
The answer is most likely. If a creditor was listed in the bankruptcy schedules, had notice of the bankruptcy, and the debt was discharged, that creditor cannot contact the debtor in trying to collect past debt even after the discharge goes through. In some cases, an unsecured creditor may accidentally be ommitted from the schedules.
If the case was a chapter 7 no asset case, that debt should also be discharged even though it was excluded from the schedules. The reason being has to do with the fact that since no unsecured creditors got zero distribution, the ommitted creditor would have received nothing anyway. However, if there was a distribution to unsecured creditors, the debtor could not discharge the ommitted unsecured creditor balance.
Therefore, if you feel a creditor is violating the automatic stay after your bankruptcy, you should contact an attorney to assist you. There may be monetary damages available.
If you have questions about Florida Divorces or Bankruptcy Law contact a Florida Attorney
Greg Gilbert
Keith Maynard
