If you receive a Notice of Dismissal of your Chapter 13 Bankruptcy Case, it’s time to get your case reinstated. But let’s back up first.
– Why might a bankruptcy be dismissed?
* If your plan wasn’t confirmed in a timely fashion
* If you fell behind in plan payments
* If you failed to produce required documents like tax returns
Bankruptcies get dismissed routinely. But with the bankruptcy dismissed, a debtor loses the benefit of the automatic stay, the protection from creditors. That means your mortgage company could resume foreclosure proceedings, judgment creditors could try to garnish wages, and car creditors can try to repossession your vehicle. That’s bad news!
In fact, as one Pennsylvania case shows, actions conducted by a creditor between dismissal of a case and reinstatement might not be able to be reversed. Which it why the notice of dismissal must be acted upon quickly.
Fortunately, for dismissed cases, we can either refile a new bankruptcy case or, if we can resolve the reasons that caused the dismissal, we can reinstate the case. That involves filing a motion and asking the court to bring the case back to where it was before. That also means catching up on any missed payments from when the case was dismissed.
If your bankruptcy was dismissed, don’t delay. Contact us to discuss reinstatement, refiling, or other means to protect your assets and ensure creditors can’t take actions against you. At WM Law, we are…here to help.
