Discharge notice: Do creditors that did not file a claim get notified?

[TrainWreak]

Does anyone know if the creditors who did not file a claim get notified of discharge or do all of them get notified?

[HHM]

I believe the discharge notice goes to all creditors that appeared on your creditor matrix, regardless if they filed claims.

[TrainWreak]

Thank you HHM
The reason I ask is that a less than $1000 medical bill for my wife's treatment was included in the matrix. She did not file with me because 99% of the overall debt was mine.
In Illinois medical debt belongs to both parties.

We don't mind paying it though if they bill us.
Interestingly after I filed they tried to violate the stay but was headed off by my attorney, at least until after the stay is gone.

They did not file a claim either because they will forgive the debt, uh hum, or they are waiting for the stay to be lifted to bill us, more likely.

[tobee43]

if the debt was listed and your bk is discharged and they continue to contact you then they are in violation of the discharge order not the stay order at this point.

if they were in fact listed and your bk was discharged i'd be on the phone with my atty in a ny minute and file a motion that they have violated the stay. they will be find for doing so, so i would most certainly hand this over to my atty.

best of luck...and you don't owe the debt if it was unsecured, listed and discharged. this may be a creepy third party collection agency doing this and they don't stop. please do not pay them if they were listed.

[TrainWreak]

The original creditor, the hospital, sent a bill after my BK petition was filed. My wife did not file BK and signed for the debt.
My attorney informed me and the hospital that my wife was protected from my BK stay until it is lifted. He stated something about medical bills being included in the Illinois family necessity act so we are both liable for medical. Since she didn't file she is not discharged from the medical debt.
The hospital knows about this law according to the conversation I had 3 years ago with the account rep there.
Now I am almost discharged.

[HHM]

Train...that is correct. Once the BK is discharged, the auto-stay is lifted. Since the debt was a joint debt and your wife did not file, she is still liable and the hospital or any other subsequent collection agency or debt buyer can attempt to collect the debt from here (and potentially sue her) until the debt is resolved one way or the other.

[goon]

So just to understand the issue here.... if his wife didn't file, then the auto-stay would not apply to her anyway, correct? and they could have gone after her even with the stay in place to prevent them from going after him? or am I missing something here? (ie. why would the stay apply to them contacting his wife if she did not file)

[tobee43]

hhm, i get it now, so she's still liable, even if he did list it because of the law in Ill.

remind me NOT to get married in Ill.

[TrainWreak]

hhm, i get it now, so she's still liable, even if he did list it because of the law in Ill.

remind me NOT to get married in Ill.

Don't get married in Illinois--or much else for that matter.

[TrainWreak]

So just to understand the issue here.... if his wife didn't file, then the auto-stay would not apply to her anyway, correct? and they could have gone after her even with the stay in place to prevent them from going after him? or am I missing something here? (ie. why would the stay apply to them contacting his wife if she did not file)

In part my attorney's response from 3 years ago states that my chapter 13 stay operates as a stay under Title 11 USC Section 1301 to protect my wife from collection of joint debts.
But that protection will soon be gone.

In a preceding paragraph he stated that debts incurred for family necessities can be collected against the other spouse under the Illinois Family Necessities Act. Medical bills are considered family necessities.

So what I get from this is that even though Illinois is not a community property state, family necessity debt is community property. Thank God my credit card debt was not used for "family necessity" !

[TrainWreak]

I want to add that they did cut the bill in half before I filed BK13. I filled out the paperwork they sent me and I qualified for the discount. I wonder if that still applies? I still have the bills that show the discount.

[HHM]

Actually, many states have this sort of law, I have always heard it referred to as the Family Purpose Doctrine, but the concept is the same. Debt's incurred that benefit a family members, are the responsibility of both spouses regardless of who actually received the service. E.g. if husband goes to ER, wife is still liable even if wife didn't go with him or sign anything.

I have seen this used to go after a non-BK-filing spouse that was an Authorized User. There is a particularly nasty law firm in TX that represents Discover Card and goes after the Authorized User with a Family Necessity argument.

But rest assured, it is actually quite rare for a credit card company to go after an Authorized User (except AMEX, since under AMEX's terms, there are no such thing as Authorized Users).

[TrainWreak]

Of all the cards I included in BK13 Discover was the only one that my wife was an authorized user. She called me each of the 3 times to see if it was alright to charge a tank of gas. Her card had a different number.
That was all some 5-6 years ago now so I don't know if I could prove that now. Some of the records went to an agency I hired pre BK to novate the debt unsuccessfully. The agency had a good track record previously until things hit the fan in 2008-2009 and the banks went after the agency.

I guess if all I have to worry about is a medical debt less than $1000 which I am willing to pay, and Discover card that has to prove it's case in court I am doing good. I will fight the Discover card if it becomes an issue though.