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Hi, I'm a lawyer, though I don't practice bankruptcy anymore. First and foremost, go talk to a bankruptcy lawyer in your jurisdiction. I'll explain generally what happened, but I'm not giving you legal advice because I don't know poo poo about the specifics for what's going on here. Think of bankruptcy like a timeline of your mom's life, with the bankruptcy dividing your mom's pre- and post- filing existence. Everything pre-bankruptcy belongs to the bankruptcy estate, which can be used to pay off creditors. That includes pre-bankruptcy stuff that would give your mom the ability to get money, even if she can't actually get it until after the bankruptcy (that's called a "unliquidated contingent" claim). That settlement was a contingent claim that your mom didn't disclose. Even though she didn't get the money until after the bankruptcy, the actions that created the money occurred pre-bankruptcy. So the money from the settlement could have been used to pay back creditors. What the trustee did was reopen the bankruptcy case to take that money, which should have been listed as an asset, to pay fees and creditors. As you might imagine, saying "I didn't think this was worth anything" is not an excuse. When you file for bankruptcy, you have to list all your assets, including legal claims. If you want to google around, the magic words are "trustee reopen case and undisclosed assets" You should go talk to a lawyer to see how your jurisdiction handles this and how to contest it. It varies pretty significantly from circuit to circuit. You might be able to get this reduced or something, but your mother screwed up by not listing her claim.
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May 18, 2016 02:18
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| # ¿ May 16, 2024 08:53 |
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