Judgement question

What is the name of your state? florida

Okay, here is the start, on Feb 25, 1997 my husband and I filed bankruptcy chap 13 in the state of Georgia. One of the creditors was GMAC on a car that we had leased in 1990 and turned in 1994. Well, fast forward. In 1999 we converted to chapter 7 and it was dismissed in 11/99. 2 weeks ago for the first time in all these years we pulled our credit reports. I was actually afraid to cause i didn't know what we would find. however we are starting to look into purchasing a home, so we needed to see what it would look like. ANYWAY, imagine my shock when I find a judgement listed on there. This is what it looks like...
2/1997 entered in Chap 13 bankruptcy
3/1997 entered civil judgement GMAC
I do not understand how a judgement can be filed from a creditor that I have included in bankruptcy. Then i pulled up my pacer report and I find that 10/14/98 there was Motion to avoid Lien with Notice to respond, Motion by debtor to avoid lien with GMAC
then 10/27/98 Response by GMAC to motion to avoid lien by debtors.
then 12/09/98 Hearing re motion to avoid lien rescheduled for 1/6/99
then 1/26/99 order granting motion to avoid lien with gmac by debtors.
Does this mean that they are not able to place a lien on us, or what? I AM CONFUSED.
I thought all this was taken care of in the bankruptcy.
LeeAnn

[Ladynred]

You're absolutely right, there should NOT have been ANY judgment on a debt included in bankruptcy. It would be a violation of the automatic stay.

Have you tried to get in touch with the BK lawyer that handled your case ??

Was your Ch 7 DISMISSED or DISCHARGED ?? Big difference in terms.

hi there, yes i know there is a big difference in terms dismissed vs discharged. The bk was dismissed in 11/99 as we could not attend the court date, we had moved back to florida, and did not have the money at all to go back to georgia to attend, and the trustee would NOT allow a teleconference. The thing is the judgement was placed the month after we originally filed, and 2 1/2 years before dismissal.
LeeAnn

[Ladynred]

Then I'd have to say your original lawyer dropped the ball. That judgment should never have gone thru AFTER your filing date.

Ok, I think what you have to do is call the courthouse where this judgment was supposedly rendered and find out if, in fact, there IS a judgment sitting there. Its possible that your lawyer did take care of it, but you need to find out. Get a copy of the case file so you can see all the details.

Judgments in GA are only good for 7 years, so if it IS there it will be valid until early next year. You may be able to get rid of the thing w/o much of a fuss if you can show your bankruptcy papers and a filing date that pre-dates the judgment.

Thank you i will be on the phone with the courthouse tomorrow. I have disputed with all 3 cra's in the mean time on my husbands reports, maybe I will wait until that is over, to see if that helps. maybe they won't verify and will delete.

Originally posted by Ladynred
Then I'd have to say your original lawyer dropped the ball. That judgment should never have gone thru AFTER your filing date.

Ok, I think what you have to do is call the courthouse where this judgment was supposedly rendered and find out if, in fact, there IS a judgment sitting there. Its possible that your lawyer did take care of it, but you need to find out. Get a copy of the case file so you can see all the details.

Judgments in GA are only good for 7 years, so if it IS there it will be valid until early next year. You may be able to get rid of the thing w/o much of a fuss if you can show your bankruptcy papers and a filing date that pre-dates the judgment.

i have the pacer report that has it listed, i have no idea what happened to the original papers.
I did look up in pacer and didn't find the judgement listed though.
LeeAnn