The Bankruptcy Court Won't Enforce Your Discharge Unless You Ask It To.

One of the important benefits of filing bankruptcy is the automatic stay that immediately stops creditors from trying to collect debts included in the bankruptcy. This is a court order that prohibits creditors from calling the debtor, sending out statements or demand letters, filing suit or taking any other action to collect the debt that was owed on the date of filing.

After the case has been administered the automatic stay is replaced by the discharge injunction which is another court order that prohibits creditors from trying to collect the discharged debt. This means once a debt is discharged creditors supposedly cannot take any action to try to collect that debt.

Despite these injunctions, creditors may still try to collect the debt in violation of the court's order. If that happens, a debtor may have a private cause of action in the bankruptcy court against the offending creditor. But the bankruptcy court will not enforce the stay or discharge unless the debtor asks it to by way of an adversary proceeding. So, to protect their rights a debtor should hire legal counsel as soon as they discover there has been a violation.

In the meantime, all statements, collection letters,  credit reports, or emails should be saved and telephone calls documented to be used as evidence later on. Unfortunately, many bankruptcy attorneys don't handle anything but the bankruptcy filing itself. That is why we do that type of work almost exclusively. We want to make sure every bankruptcy filer gets the fresh start they were promised.

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