Cancelling and Refiling Bankruptcy chapter 7

[leedspaddy1971]

Since we filed without a lawyer back in June in VT, we have continued to have bad luck. We moved to PA, and before my medical coverage kicked in from my new job, my wife had to go into hospital for a medical emergency**************.....we cannot pay this huge bill. I have a couple of questions...... I was told on another forum that I could cancel my original filing and refile to include the new debt but do I have to wait for a set length of time between canceling and refiling? ......I mean can I send the District of Vermont a cancellation in one envelope and my refiled bankruptcy petition in another at the same time? Secondly, can I refile in VT where all of my debts apart from this new one originated or will I have to refile in PA?
Thanks for any advice.

[laurannm]

Have you been discharged yet? If not, I believe you can add a creditor at any time before discharge

[biotechsolution]

It isn't that simple you have to file a motion to dismissed your bankuptcy and there's no guarantee that the court will let you. It looks to see if any creditors will be hurt by dismissing the bankruptcy. Then depending on how they dismiss it. You will have to wait most likely 180 days to refile. Then to get protection from the automatic stay when you do re-file you will have to file a motion to extend the automatic stay past 30 days.

[Confused14]

You can add creditors to your petition if the bill was incurred before you filed. At my 341 meeting today, many people were amending to add extra creditors. Tunskit is right. My atty explained that to me as well.

[tunskit]

I might be wrong, but I believe you can only add creditors by amending if the bill was incurred before your original filing date. So, if you accidentally omitted an existing creditor in your petition, you can add them at any time until discharge (I think you can even reopen a closed case to add a creditor from the time before filing). However, if you have a hospital stay right after filing, I think it's ineligible to add to the original petition. Your only option would be to dismiss and file again. I know the 180 day waiting period is correct, at least in Idaho. It's complicated, but might be worth the extra effort if the bill is huge.

You might also see if the hospital has a charity program to absorb bills patients can't pay. Your local county or state government might also offer an assistance program. In Idaho, there is a program for un/underinsured patients. The county pays the hospital and then determines how much, if any, you can afford to repay the county based on your current budget and expenses. They take monthly payments for up to three years, depending on what they decide you can repay. When my mother had to use it for a surgery, she had to repay $1,800 of her $9,000 hospital bill--and when she became disabled a couple of years later, the county forgave the balance owed.

[leedspaddy1971]

Thanks for getting back to me. I did my creditors meeting via the mail because my wife was too sick to travel. In my "interrogatories", I informed the court that I had missed off one creditor and that I was going to file an ammendment to add it. But as I suspected I think I am screwed because waiting 180 days seems a nightmare especially as the creditors will be given the freedom to come after you once again.