Bankruptcy Discharge
After going through all the trials and tribulations of bankruptcy, a discharge is the ultimate reward for any individual. Once you get a discharge, it means that you are not apt to the creditors and are no longer required to make any repayments for a period of one year. If there are no objections raised by the creditors in regards to your discharge, a discharge of your debts will be granted. This means that you have no further obligation to repay the debt that you owed. The court grants you a new lease to your financial status. Unfortunately though, a discharge is not automatic, and may be postponed by the court. You are not completely free from all debts.
Depending on the chapter that you file under, the timing differs. For example if you file under Chapter 7, the discharge is granted about four months after the date the debtor files the petition. Under chapter 11(restructuring, the discharge occurs on confirmation of the chapter 11 plan). After chapter 12(adjustments of debts of family members) and 13(for regular income earners), the discharge is granted after all repayments are made under the plan.
You, your attorney and your creditors receive a discharge order that simply states that you no longer owe your creditors and all debts have been discharged. No attempt to claim or collect what you owe them is prohibited. At this stage, you can choose to repay a discharged debt, although it is no longer required by the law.
After being discharged, there may have been assets that the Trustee did not get a chance to deal with. This may have been assets that were already owned before the bankruptcy or during the beginning of the proceedings. The trustee can choose to deal with them at a later time in the future, it can even take years.
