civil lawsuits...wht happens?

[highstand]

I am the plaintiff in a civil lawsuit that is going to trail soon. The defendant counter-sued. This is a financial dispute where we both feel the other owes money. I filed for ch7 today. I went to the court for the suit to inform them of the BK filing. The clerk seems to feel that I need to still come to court anyway. Is that correct? If I choose to drop my case...what affect would that have?

Thanks

[keepmine]

Since you already filed bk, you can't drop the suit. It is now property of the bk estate and should be listed in your filing.
Your lawyer should send a notice of your bk filing to both the person suing you and to the court asking for a stay until your bk is sorted out. I assume you named the party suing you as a creditor?

[AngelinaCat]

Your civil lawsuit will be 'tolled', or 'stopped' until your BK is over. Then you can make it commence again.

HOWEVER, any moneys owed to you as of the time you filed your BK, belong to your BK Estate. Make sure you report this. If we are talking about a substantial monetary amount, your trustee may go after it.

[2manybills]

You or your attorney in the civil lawsuit should file a "Notice of Stay of Proceedings" and attach as an Exhibit a copy of the Notice of Bankruptcy Filing. It will stay the proceeding until the bankruptcy has been discharged and closed.