Does the Bankruptcy Discharge expire?
By Eugene S. Melchionne, Connecticut Bankruptcy Attorney on Mar 11, 2007 in Connecticut, Discharge Violations, Life After Bankruptcy
Congratulations! You’ve completed your bankruptcy case and received a discharge. Now you can go on with your life.
Or can you?
Collectors have been known lately to tell people that bankruptcy is no longer available. We know that’s not true. Other collectors are attempting to collect what we are now calling “zombie debt“. This is debt that seemly will not die. It is debt that has been discharged in a bankruptcy or is barred by the statute of limitations. Due to the practice of re-aging, this debt is being resold even though it is not legally collectible. See also: Zombie Debt Haunts the Discharged.
Collection agencies are now perpetrating the lie that somehow the bankruptcy discharge expires or is limited in time. Somehow after a while, the discharge is no longer effective and you must now pay the debt. In one case, a collector told the relative of a discharged debtor who had recently died that the bankruptcy discharge expired on death and that relative was now required to pay the debt out of the probate estate.
Don’t you believe it! The bankruptcy discharge is permanent and complete. Unless the debt is reaffirmed or is secured debt that you are continuing to pay after the bankruptcy case, you have no obligation to pay this debt. Do not play into the collectors hands. Call a lawyer to cite the collector for contempt of the bankruptcy court order of discharge. This violation of various consumer statutes and the Bankruptcy Code could result in money for your pocket.
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