question about judgments after bankruptcy

[mamasun73]

Hello All,

This is my first post, so bare with me! In November of 2002 my husband was served with papers to appear in court to deal with a wage garnishment. He gave his answer as guilty and started making payments to the lawyer( over a past medical bill) of $50 dollars a month. In August we had no choice but to file bankruptcy (chapter 7) and the judgment was included. In October of 2003 our bankruptcy was discharged...and we heard nothing more from this lawyer. Now flash forward to 2007...we are now trying to refinance our home and the loan officer informed us that the title company had found an unsatisfied judgment on my husband. I gave the lawyers name and phone number to the loan officer in case they needed to get a pay-off amount from the lawyer. I called the lawyers office and was told that they could not give me a release of judgment only a release of garnishment . My loan officer said that this will not need a pay-off and that the lawyer will send a release. It has been four days with no reply from the lawyer! We are approved for the loan and are just waiting for this lawyer to send the release? So my question is...is the lawyer just being a jerk and stalling or is there some leagle recourse the title company can take to force the lawyer to release? The county court house said that the judgment was "terminated"? What's going on?

[emoney]

The really dirty truth is you may have to sue him to get a letter that his legal claim is discharged, unless the title company will not help. If you or someone has a relationship with the title company they can issue the title policy if they are satified that the claim was discharged in BK. You can alwasy try another title company, but shop around and tell them everything up front.
Whoever picked the title company probably knows someone there that can authorized the issurance of the title policy. Get your BK attorney to call in your behalf and with an warranty from him that the old claim was released the policy may be issued.
No one said it would be easy.
Regards,
emoney

[mamasun73]

Thanks,emoney, I called my loan officer to see if I could talk to someone at the title company. Once I got ahold of them,at the very same time, the person at the title company was getting a fax from the lawyer. So, I guess the answer to my question was that he was just a lazy jerk. Thank you for the advice. My story is one to show that there is life after bankruptcy. Good luck and God bless to everyone who finds themselves faced with having to file bankruptcy.