Seymour's Blog

Notice to Clients Concerning
Judgments that have been entered against you
BEFORE Bankruptcy

1. Your bankruptcy wipes out your personal obligation to pay a debt, and you do not have to worry about a creditor harassing you to collect it.

2. If you have a judgment against you that was obtained before you filed bankruptcy, either from somebody having sued you or for something like a motor vehicle lien, or even a lien from unemploymentfor some sort of improper payment of unemployment benefits, these things can come back to haunt you at a later date. You need to take special action (in addition to your bankruptcy filing) to get rid ofthese judgments and liens.

3. The way to start to resolve these issues is by first letting us know about these judgments or liens. We can do a judgment search or title search, but that costs money, and we don’t want you to have to spend money to obtain information that you may already have in your records.

4. One year after you have obtained your bankruptcy discharge, we can file a motion in the State Court with respect to each judgment or lien.

5. There is a fee for filing these motions and the fee is based upon the complexity of the motion. In general the minimum fees and costs run between $350 to $400. This is not something that you need to do now, but this is something you need to be aware of for the future.

6. The other option, as discussed above, is to file a motion while you are in bankruptcy. This may be easier because it is often better to get rid of these judgments and liens while you are in bankruptcy. A motion of this nature filed in the Bankruptcy Court will only be granted if your bankruptcy is totally successful and you have obtained a discharge. If you want us to file such a motion while your bankruptcy is active, let us know and we can work out an arrangement with you for payment of our additional fees.

These are important issues. If they relate to you, and if you have a judgment or some kind of lien against you, make sure to tell us about it. That way we can deal with it in the proper fashion so it will not cause unanticipated problems for you in the future.