Can a bankruptcy be re-opened? The answer is absolutely! There has got
to be a reason, and a good one, to re-open bankruptcy. A lot of times
the Chapter 7 or 13 trustee, typically a Chapter 7, will re-open the case
because they are trying to administer an asset they might have missed
(typically a tax refund). Re-opening, there's a small court fee, and
sometimes a fee for the attorney to do it as well, but once you pay that
fee, (if for example you missed a creditor and you really wanted to wipe
them out with the bankruptcy) you could re-open. We actually do that all the time.
You just add them in and within a month or two, the case is closed again,
and the discharge wipes out that creditor. You're back to being debt-free.
So, re-opening a case certainly happens, it happens a lot, especially
for tax refunds or when the Chapter 7 trustee tries to re-open the case
and distribute some of the refund money to some of the creditors. But
you can re-open it as well, if you accidentally missed a creditor or for
some other reason. So that's what there is to know about re-opening a case!