What is the difference between discharged and closed?

[freshstartmi]

?? I notice some show just a couple days between the two and others show months.?

[mtbc]

It depends. Sometimes things just slip through the cracks awhile administratively, and different districts simply have different procedures in the clerk's office. One thing that will slow a chapter 7 case-closing is if there are possibly assets to distribute to creditors. That can happen after discharge. Even if the trustee is just waiting to see if you get a tax refund or something, the case will hang open. Or if the trustee has taken over one of your assets to run it for a while (it may be an income-generator) then that could keep it open too. But that's not really the debtor's concern by that point, the discharge is the main thing that affects them.