Hello Everyone,
This is my first post on this forum. I’m trying to seek out all my options before I act, and my research led me to this forum. It will be much appreciated if some of you will share your knowledge/input.
I’ll give you the gist of my situation. I filed for Chapter 7, no asset, US Bankruptcy Court, in Sept of 2005 (before the law change) and it was fully discharged. I had a small business that closed down in late 2007. I had a corporate credit card that wasn’t included with the Chapter 7 that has taken me to court (civil). I didn’t include the credit card on the schedule because I was unaware that I personally guaranteed it, obviously, if I had known, I would have included it with my bankruptcy. I was under the impression I was protected by my corporation. From the date of my Chapter 7 filing, the card was still in use until my corporation closed. The creditor is now suing me for the full amount. Court date has been adjourned.
I see that I have a couple of options that brings me to a few questions.
Option 1 - Stay with the court date, and see if the creditor has proof of my signature.
If they do not have my signature, will the case be dismissed? Are monthly statements suffice for them to win? (I dont recall signing anything, usually I open these credit cards over the phone.)
Option 2 – File a motion to amend my chapter 7.
(This is what I read in the Chapter 13 forums.) Obviously I don’t fully understand…
Motions to reopen are often filed by debtors seeking to amend schedules (lists) to include an additional creditor. Generally, such motions are liberally granted. The courts have held that there will be no prejudice or harm to the creditor in a no asset case when proper notice to creditors has been given that there is no need to file a claim. In such a case, the omitted creditor is not harmed if the case is reopened and the creditor is added to the schedule because the creditor would not have received a distribution in any event. Motions to reopen for the purpose of adding creditors to the schedules are often filed by debtors in the mistaken belief that adding the creditor to the schedules is necessary for the debt to be discharged. The delayed scheduling of a creditor after the case has been closed has no effect on whether the debt is discharged. What matters is whether the creditor was hurt by the delay.
I’m sure after an amendment they will file for an adversary hearing, but what will they fight for? The full amount of the debt or are they only allowed to try for the POST bankruptcy amount?
Will this amendment refresh my chapter 7’s 10 years on the credit report?
Will re-opening my Chapter 7 “open up a new can of worms” and make things worse somehow?
eg: dismissal of any previous debts or I did something wrong by not including this debt. (Again I was under the impression this is a corporate debt.)
Thanks ahead for your time, and I hope this post will be informative to others as well.
Regards.
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