Suit after Successful Discharge

[Par]

I was successfully discharged from CH 13 in Feb 2012. All has been good until today I receive a letter from an attorney who has petitioned the local judge to reopen a case that was Automatically Stayed when I filed back in 2007. The attorney represents Credit-Based Asset Servicing and Securitization LLC and I've never had any dealings with them. They also named one of my former mortgage companies as a defendant.
I made all payments to the Trustee for 5 years and the other defendant was paid by the Trustee. Then, successfully discharged.
I have no idea why they would be suing me. Not sure what to do next.

[justbroke]

Strange. They must think that they have rights to your property. Do you still have this property and does it still have a mortgage or were any arrears taken care of in the (Chapter 13) Bankruptcy? I would first respond to this attorney that any debts were discharged by the Chapter 13 and that they may be violating the permanent discharge injunction. (It doesn't appear as though they "think" they are violating since they waited for the case to be discharged.)

You may also want to read the papers a little more carefully. If it is related to property, they probably list the property description somewhere in the papers. If this is for a foreclosure, then they may be some party that believes they have a mortgage lien upon whatever property this references. CBASS appears to be a company that purchases mortgage portfolios and perhaps packages them as securities as well. Not too unlike other banks did during the early 2000s.

This may be worth asking your attorney since you say it is related to a party already paid in the bankruptcy. Perhaps you left a mortgage off the petition and they were stayed from pursuing their remedies. Under non-bankruptcy law, for foreclosures, you must name all parties of interest, which includes other mortgage and lien holders and even ex-spouses, tenants, and any homeowner/condo association. I would get on top of this pronto.

(I do not have enough information to formulate any other ideas about this other than it appears to be an impacted creditor that claims to have held a lien on some property.)

[spidge]

Sounds like a scare tactic to get you to respond to them. Don't admit that you know what debt they are referring to and ask for specifics especially what court they petitioned. I am willing to bet they are full of crap.

Seek sanctions.

[Par]

After further thought and a little research, I think CBASS bought the mortgage (which was a second mtg at the time) from my lender (a NY bank) while I was in the process of filing. It looks like the Trustee payed the original lender each month during the bankruptcy. Could they have kept the payments and not sent them on to CBASS? Is that why CBASS named the original lender along with me?
I checked the County Clerk website and the judge okayed the reopening of the case. I realize that with out all the details it's impossible to make any decisions, but what should my next step be? I haven't been in touch with my BK lawyer since I filed and don't have a clue if it should be another BK lawyer or some other specialty I should engage. I've sold the property. Any rational thoughts are appreciated.

[justbroke]

Serve the discharge order, Trustee final accounting, and a letter indicating that this debt was discharged in the bankruptcy. Serve that on the creditor (CBASS) and file it with the non-bankruptcy (local) court.

Contact your previous attorney.

Hopefully your prior bankruptcy attorney is available. They'll have your records and access to PACER to look at the documents I mention (including trustee final accounting). Your attorney can also find out if the original creditor was paid during the bankruptcy. They can also check to see if you did a "lien strip". Your attorney or a new one can determine just what your next step(s) should be.

Again, I would serve them the discharge order, final accounting, and a "violation of discharge injunction" letter. You definitely need to contact your prior counsel.

[Par]

Thank you