Debtors filed a Chapter 7 bankruptcy, were discharged and the case closed.

Slightly more than one year after the case was closed, debtors submitted a motion to reopen the case and add two more creditors that they had failed to list in the original proceeding.

The court denied the debtors’ motion and refused to reopen the case. Hence, the unlisted creditors could still collect from the debtors.

Here, the court noted that the Bankruptcy Code does permit a case to be reopened to “administer assets, accord relief to the debtor, or for other cause.” The Code does not, however, provide any particular period of time after which the debtor cannot reopen the case.

The court held that it would no longer entertain a motion to reopen a case more than one year after the file was closed when it was a “no-asset” case, even though the debtors failed to schedule previously unlisted creditors. In re Jacob & Guadalupe Guzman, 130 B.R. 489.

Author: Charles R. Harroun, Attorney at Law