Help house foreclosure

[abacus]

In June we filed chapter 7 and we were to surrender the house in the bankruptcy (since we had no equity and it needed a lot of work). Our lawyer filed all the paper work and we had our 341 in July. We shortly thereafter received a letter stating that the lender for the house had filed a motion for a relief of stay. We contacted our lawyer and were told not to worry about it we did not need to go back to court. Later we received a letter stating that a relief of stay had been granted. Again we contacted our lawyer and was told not to worry about it was just a formality so they could go ahead and take possession and sell the house. We have since received our discharge papers. Next thing we know we receive a letter from the mortgage company stating our house had been abandoned and they wanted to know the intent of insurance. We also received a letter from the lenders lawyer stating that we owe for the house and that if we have filed chapter 7 and a motion for relief of stay had been granted the only option for us was foreclosure. It also stated that if we have received our discharge papers to fax a copy to them so they can close their books on this case.

While I have a call in to our lawyer I am starting to question his ability.

So my question is this:
If we have filed for a chapter 7 and a relief of stay was granted are we liable for the house? (Even if through foreclosure)

This looks to me like we have made a serious blunder and I am not sure how to go about correcting it. I maybe over reacting since I do not understand what is going on but if I am not over reacting do I have any alternatives to correct this?

[StaciMM]

If you are planning to move out of the house (or already have) then you're fine. You don't owe anything, which is why they were asking for a copy of the discharge. (They're not going to write the debt off just because you said so and maybe they don't want to bother checking w/ the courts for themselves.

[abacus]

We have moved out. So I guess that means we are done.

I also finally got a call back from the lawyer and he stated we own nothing.

Between another post on this board and this one plus after talking with my lawyer I think I understand what the layman definition of a relief of stay is. Please tell me if this is correct.

It is a petition from a lender to the court asking that they be allowed to take possession of the item that secured a debt. This is filed before the discharge so they can go ahead and make an effort to sell the security for what ever they can. They do this with the understanding that they will not be able to go after the person filing bankruptcy to collect the difference between the price they sell the security for and the loan amount the BK filer is attempting to discharge.

[StaciMM]

I think you have a good understanding of it. The only other aspect of a home foreclosure is it often takes a lot of time, so filing the motion allows the lender to start it sooner than if they waited until after discharge.

[BassBoy]

Good discussion here.

I too am surrenduring and I understand what the Stay and the Relief of Stay are........so...........my filing for Ch.7 will be this week (before the deadline), so does this mean that my family and I have some time before we have to leave? Looking at how the whole process goes, it looks like it will be about 3-4 months before anything is discharged. Am I right on this? If so, does that mean we can breathe easy for a while? We've been kind of worried about this.