Do we need to reopening a Discharged Bankruptcy? 17 Answers as of February 10, 2012

Generally speaking, only pre-petition property becomes part of the Chapter 7 bankruptcy estate. Therefore, your wife need not report any award of damages she receives after the discharge in bankruptcy.

This is a complicated but common situation. If the transaction or occurrence that caused the damages predated the bankruptcy filing - yes, you must inform the bankruptcy trustee of the lawsuit and yes, you may lose some or all of the award. You could possibility be guilty of bankruptcy fraud if you do not take these actions. If the transaction or occurrence that caused the damages occurred after the bankruptcy filing - no you do not need to inform the bankruptcy trustee. The date that you asserted the claim, consulted with a lawyer, or filed the lawsuit is irrelevant. The date of the operative facts relating to the lawsuit is the only important date. No matter what you do, do not attempt to handle this case on your own. You will need to hire a qualified attorney. I am handling a similar case right now, that was prepared by an incompetent lawyer, and was later referred to me to fix after the error. The client will be able to recover about 40K of the settlement amount as a result of my efforts, but will lose about another $35k as a result of the malpractice of the bankruptcy lawyer.

If the damages are for an incident that occurred after the filing of the bankruptcy, you do not need to reopen your case. This is an asset that was acquired post filing and as such it is not an asset of the estate and you do not need to reopen the case. The issue really becomes if the incident occurred before you filed the bankruptcy case and if you failed to disclose the asset. When you filed your case, you are required to list all assets whether they are contingent or not, including all rights to sue. If that is the case, then you would have needed to inform the court of this potential lawsuit.

Not necessary. Typically you would need to advise the Chapter 7 bankruptcy Trustee and court/creditors of such windfalls of money when received within 6 months. Your case is more than 2 years old.

If the accident happened after the bankruptcy case was filed then no need to report anything. If the accident had happened before the case was filed then it should have been reported in the petition and exempted since your filed already knew she had a claim and she was required to report all claims in the petition. Whether or not you should reopen the case now or just inform the trustee of the details is something you need to discuss with your attorney.

That depends on whether the case of action for your wife's suit arose before or after you filed. If after, then no need to report. If before, hopefully it was disclosed in the bankruptcy and the trustee abandoned it as an asset of the estate. You should immediately get with the attorney who did your bankruptcy and find out, even if it means that you have to pay them for a conference on the matter! Good luck!

If you did not disclose this lawsuit, if you were engaged in this suit at the time you filed, then you are supposed to, but if not, then you do not have to disclose.