Ronald Jay Drescher’s Answers

These are very serious infractions you are describing. You should immediately contact an attorney to communicate with this collection company. The discharge injunction is designed to protect you against these threats and collection efforts.

You should have included the name, address and account number for your mortgage in your original bankruptcy case so that the mortgage company received notice. As a result the mortgage is automatically included in your bankruptcy. If you have never sent notice to your mortgage company of the bankruptcy you should do that immediately. Debtors cannot pick and choose which creditors are to receive notice: the bankruptcy laws require notice to go to all parties in interest. Once receiving notice,...

Your attorney is correct. Banks holding deposit accounts have the right of setoff (sometimes called offset) if their depositor owes a debt to the financial institution. The United States Supreme Court has ruled that these banks, or credit unions, may freeze depositors' accounts after filing bankruptcy in order to preserve these offset rights. These rights are somewhat similar to the rights of a holder of a consensual leave therefore they are not subject to your exemptions.

Don't be in a big rush to file bankruptcy. If your wages or assets aren't in danger of being seized, a quick filing is not necessary. Instead, you should get advice on how to properly plan your bankruptcy case to maximize the property you can keep.

The good news is that you do not marry into debt, so you will not be liable for these payments. On the other hand, if you are married filing jointly, the IRS may be able to offset your husband's tax claim against any tax refund to which you may be entitled, so that would be a backdoor way for the IRS to get at your money. You should verify this with an accountant or tax lawyer.

It's good that you got your personal case discharged. Based upon your question that was probably the most important item. But the tax issue is troubling. Unfortunately, the question is not a bankruptcy question but a tax question. If you have an accountant (and you should if you had a business) I would start by asking the accountant about the sales tax issue, and probably ask either your accountant or your bankruptcy lawyer for a referral to a tax attorney. If it doesn't make any sense to you...

Tax liens go on Schedule D, secured claims. After you are finished entering all secured claims, you then total them for each specific item of real property and then include that total on the far right column of Schedule A.

The key question is: was the judgment entered before or after bankruptcy? If it was entered after the bankruptcy, no problem, send notice of the bankruptcy to courthouse and the title company and they will see that the judgment was void in violation of the automatic stay. A much bigger problem arises if the judgment was entered before the bankruptcy. In that case, you or your attorney needed to file a motion to avoid the judgment as an impairment of your exemption. You will need to reopen...

I agree with the other attorneys who have answered. There is a common misperception that debtors can pick and choose what creditors or assets they can include "in the bankruptcy." This is not the case. A discharge is incredibly powerful relief: you are given a fresh start from thousands or millions of dollars that you owe. The price for this relief is 100% accuracy and transparency, listing all assets and all debts.

The bankruptcy court would have needed to approve your reaffirmation agreement before your discharge. Since that didn't happen the debt has been discharged.