Possible lawsuit after filing

[faroff]

Not sure this is the right section,but here goes. I filed a ch.7,had the 341 meeting and it's been continued.Lawyer now saying he wants to convert us to 13. Anyway while all that's going on I suddenly get a letter from an out of state attorney that was repping an individual I owe money too.

My question is, if I am under BK "protection" can they still file suit? I honestly completely forgot about this individual and listed everything I knew about in the original filing. Lord knows I owe what seems like everybody due to both businesses failing,etc.
Attorney letter said to respond to him in 10 days. Can they sue me? What should I do?

[jcj112562]

Respond, with the case number and the attorney name, and notify your attorney of the oversight in the filing.

John

[SunshineGal]

The attorney will need to add them to the petition.

[Mensa1]

The others addressed what you should do but didn't directly answer your main question: Can they file suit against you while in an active Bk.

They can file the suit but any action from such a suit would be vacated (void) due to the Bk. Once the Atty for the plaintiff becomes aware of the Bk they will cease all actions at that time. It would be unlawful for them to pursue collections once they are on notice of the Bk. As suggested, amend the petition and add the creditor, which should handle all the concern over this specific creditor; suit, collections, payments, etc.

[tobee43]

Not sure this is the right section,but here goes. I filed a ch.7,had the 341 meeting and it's been continued.Lawyer now saying he wants to convert us to 13. Anyway while all that's going on I suddenly get a letter from an out of state attorney that was repping an individual I owe money too.

My question is, if I am under BK "protection" can they still file suit? I honestly completely forgot about this individual and listed everything I knew about in the original filing. Lord knows I owe what seems like everybody due to both businesses failing,etc.
Attorney letter said to respond to him in 10 days. Can they sue me? What should I do?

since the 341 is to be "continued" your atty needs to amend your petition to include this creditor...i'm be on the law firm like peanut butter on jelly.

it may cost you to file a correction, but it's well worth it....i would insist your atty take care of it.....best NOT answer anything until you speak with your atty. i would turn the entire situation over for them to handle...so it's done correctly.

best of luck!

[AngelinaCat]

Actually, Mensa1 is partially correct. The notice, the 'Suggestion of Bankruptcy' will toll or stay any pending lawsuits, active or inactive. That means that while you are under protection of the Automatic Stay, the plaintiff cannot take any further action. If the lawsuit is something that one of your creditors is bringing against you, then more likely than not, the debt in question will be discharged, and the lawsuit will go away, because there is now no more debt.

Now if the lawsuit involves something that is totally unrelated to your debt and bk, then once you are discharged, the plaintiff is free to pick it up again.

However, occasionally a creditor will file an Adversary Procedure against you, which is a mini-lawsuit attached to your BK, attempting prevent the discharge of their particular debt. These are rare, but do happen. Also they are a separate situation and the current contract you have with your attorney will not handle defending against an AP.

But that is the worst case scenario.

Good luck to you.

[free2breathe]

I agree with tobee. Contact your attorney, give him the information from the letter you received, and let him handle the notification re: the bankruptcy. He will have to file an amended schedule F and creditor matrix for you. He will probably charge you a fee to do this, plus there is a $26 court filing fee for filing an amendment. They offer this amendment process because people do honestly forget about a creditor here and there. In the case of a non-asset Chapter 7, the amendment isn't so important, but since they are wanting to convert you to a 13, or at the very least, you may end up an asset Chapter 7, you will want that creditor included and properly notified of your bankruptcy.

edited to add: that doesn't mean I don't agree with Cat re: the automatic stay. She was posting at the same time

[biotechsolution]

If you have a failing business ask your attorney why he thinks you need to convert to a chapter 13. If you're a business bk the means test shouldn't apply.