Can My Bankruptcy Be Denied?

The goal of every bankruptcy filing is to receive a “discharge.” The discharge is the Court’s official order that the debts included in your bankruptcy have been eliminated. In some rare instances, the Court may dismiss your case or deny your discharge if something was done that the Court considered to be improper, such as attempting to cheat a creditor by hiding property, refusing to obey a court order, or giving false information to the court, etc.

Generally, there are only two conclusions to a bankruptcy filing: a discharge or a dismissal. What you want is a discharge and not a dismissal. If you do get a dismissal, you must still pay all your debts because the bankruptcy is void, there is no more automatic stay for creditors to heed, and they can then take action by filing for foreclosure or repossession. A dismissal order ends the bankruptcy case, and the debtor is left with the debt. Dismissals by a court indicate that the court has found a significant problem that justifies terminating the case.

A dismissal is not necessarily the end of things. Other courses of action may be open to the debtor, which can be discussed with a bankruptcy attorney at Placidi, Parini, Grasinger & Page.

Other Bankruptcy FAQs:

Practice Areas

Testimonials

Talk to an attorney