discharged Friday....but unknown medical bill not listed

[Critty]

Okay, heres the skinny. My stepdaughter got braces in January '07. All but $1700 was covered by insurance (both my hubby's and his ex's). We paid the balance the day she got them on. Thought every thing was taking care of.

My hubby and I received our discharged on Friday, Yippee! Now its Monday and I get a call from the Ortho. Apparently the ex's insurance paid Half of their payment at the beginning and still owes the balance ($865). Problem....Ex got laid of from that job so the insurance won't pay. Now the ortho wants their money.

My question....Can this debt be included in the BK even though they weren't listed as a creditor? And if so, does the balance all get put on his ex? Court orders require my hubby to pay 71% of medical expenses for his daughter. Will his ex only be legally responsible for her share?

We filed pro se so I don't have an attorney to ask.

[TEW]

I don’t have the answer to all of your questions but I do know it’s a good idea to pay DRs in the BK if you can. They can refuse treatment.

[Critty]

She will be getting her braces off next month. So we don't really have to worry about treatment.

[jessegirl]

Once the braces come off then she is going to be given a retainer, so I think you are still going to have to deal with him/her.

[Critty]

Forgot about the retainer. Its been a long time since I had braces, lol. Hopefully we can fight with the insurance company. They were supposed to make the second payment at 1 year (ex was still employed then) but they didn't. Ortho said they might be able to submit to her new insurance.

[BnkrptcyLwyr]

Ok, if you are a "no asset" case, and if you're here in the Sixth Circuit (MI, OH, KY and TN), you have no worries, and there is no need to amend anything.

Current Sixth Circuit case law says that the debt is discharged in no asset cases regardless of whether the debt was listed or not. If the case was an "asset" case, the story is different.

If your case has not been closed yet, then you should be able to add the creditor, however, there are generally some rules regarding notice to late added creditors.

[justplaintired]

Thing I don't understand is how the insurance is denying payment. Even if DH is laid off the service was provided while he was working. I think your problem might be with the insurance too. It makes me mad insurance companies spend all their time trying to find a way not to pay claims!

[JRScott]

Okay if you were discharged friday but the case was not closed.

You know you might call the Trustee's office and ask an assistant what you should do, alternatively you might call the Clerk of the Bk court and ask what to do they might be able to tell you locally what you need to do, some are more helpful than others.

If the case isn't closed yet it might be possible to amend the creditors matrix and schedules to include the debt for little cost, this would delay closing by some time as they would allow this new creditor time. Cost about 29 dollars.

If the case has closed you'd have to pay to reopen the cast (couple hundred dollars I think), plus file the amended forms (again around 29 dollars), and wait for closing again. In this case might be a new hearing before the trustee not sure.

The amount is pretty small though and if you have additional kids that might need the doctor's service it might just be better to work out a payment arrangement with them.