what to do if a judgement discharged in a bankruptcy is not showing as released on credit report

What do you do when y'all discover one-time judgment liens on your dwelling long after you filed bankruptcy?

Your bankruptcy case is closed.

You're recovering nicely.

Then yous find in that location's a judgment lien on your firm from before your bankruptcy that you lot didn't know about.

And the police says that liens survive a bankruptcy example, unless the bankruptcy court orders otherwise.

Is in that location anything you can practice to get rid of the lien?

Most likely, yes.

Tin can the lien exist avoided

The debtor (that's yous, the person who filed the defalcation) can ask the bankruptcy court to void a lien on their belongings if

• The debt existed when the bankruptcy case was first filed
• The lien is a judgment lien
• The belongings to which the lien attaches was claimed exempt
• The property had besides little value to pay any senior liens, the judgment lien, and your exemption

Allow's await at each requirement for an avoidable lien, found in Defalcation Code 522(f).

1. Predates the bankruptcy

Defalcation impacts only debts that predate the filing of the example.  That doesn't mean that there has to be a default on the debt or a lawsuit filed.

Only the events that create the debt accept to have happened before the bankruptcy was filed:  you used the credit carte;  you were involved in an blow; or you were transported by ambulance.

Your bankruptcy case potentially effects all debts arising before y'all filed.  Merely the legal rights involved tin can't have arisen since your bankruptcy was filed.

2. Lien secures a judgment

Liens that can be wiped out because they impair exemptions must be judicial liens, that is a lien created by a lawsuit.

Voluntary liens, similar mortgages and home disinterestedness lines of credit can't be eliminated because they interfere with exemptions. This section of the law deals merely with involuntary liens.

You can't eliminate statutory liens, either.  Tax liens are created by statute.  They aren't covered by this provision of the bankruptcy code.

3. Property was claimed exempt

Because this role of the constabulary is focused on seeing that you get the full benefits of the exemptions you claimed, the belongings afflicted past the lien must accept been claimed exempt.

Some courts will avert a lien if the property in question could have been claimed exempt.

4. Lien frustrates claim of exemption

To meet this condition for avoidance, some math is required.

As of the day the instance was originally filed, the value of the property then had to have been bereft to pay the balance of any voluntary liens on the property, the exemption, and the lien you lot want to avoid.

Information technology may be that the lien at upshot is avoidable only in part, if the value of the house would pay mortgages and the exemption, and something beyond.

The fact that there is no value in backlog of the voluntary liens doesn't prevent yous from avoiding the lien. It's non an all or zilch thing.

Revisiting your case

Then, what do you do when old judgment liens are discovered well later on your bankruptcy case is over?  Reopen the case, and enquire the courtroom to avoid the lien or liens that impair your exemption.

Your motion to reopen needs to tell the courtroom what you desire to achieve.  Normally, you attach your motility to avoid the lien to the motion to reopen the case.

Nearly courts will want you lot to pay a new filing fee, to pay for the new work the courtroom is going to practice.  You tin can ask that the fee be refunded, but usually, you'll accept to pay upward front to get started.

This isn't a new bankruptcy case. You aren't endangering the fiscal recovery you've fabricated since your bankruptcy.  You lot are revisiting the old case to accept care of old business organisation.

The lawyer who helped yous with the original case can handle the lien avoidance, or y'all tin can engage some other bankruptcy lawyer to accomplish this task.

When time is tight

The overlooked judgment lien unremarkably pops up when you are ready to sell your dwelling or to refinance it.

Often that means you lot are working to deadlines.

A motion to reopen and to avert a lien is probable to accept 45-60 days before you have a bankruptcy courtroom order in hand, voiding the lien.

If you find yourself curt of time, consider negotiating for the escrow to hold the money that would otherwise go to the holder of the lien when the bargain closes, while you go back to bankruptcy court.

If you didn't check the public record before you filed your bankruptcy example to cheque for judgment liens, do it now.  Don't wait for a time crunch.

Thankfully, bankruptcy courts are accepted to helping with the overlooked lien.

More than

Tax liens afterward bankruptcy

What was discharged in my bankruptcy case

Stripping off mortgage liens

Post defalcation check list

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Source: https://www.bankruptcysoapbox.com/judgment-liens-after-bankruptcy/