I received a court notice about my case being dismissed. What does that mean? 

The majority of these notices have to do with a lawsuit a creditor had filed before your bankruptcy case was filed. Look for the terms “Plaintiff” and “Defendant” → Chances are, one of your creditors (or a debt collection agency) is listed as the plaintiff and you’re identified as the defendant in the case. 

Should I be worried? 

The notice means that the court where the lawsuit was pending has dismissed the case against you. Another way of saying dismissed in the context of a court action is to say tossed out. If a creditor’s case against you has been dismissed, it’s been tossed out by the court. 

Why does this happen? 

When your bankruptcy case was filed, the automatic stay took effect. That made it impossible for the creditor to move forward with the lawsuit against you. Since the discharge in your case will make it forever impossible for the creditor to take the next step in the lawsuit, the case is dismissed. Sometimes it happens because the creditor asks for it. Other times the court dismisses the action because it’s been inactive too long.

Does the dismissal of the creditor lawsuit affect my bankruptcy case? 

No. Everything will continue to proceed as normal in your bankruptcy case. 

Does the bankruptcy court send notices like this? 

Most of the time, these notices are not from the bankruptcy court. If you’ve filed all of your forms, paid the full filing fee (or had a waiver granted), attended your 341 meeting and completed your second bankruptcy course, there’s no reason why the bankruptcy court would dismiss your case. And even then, you’ll typically be notified and given a chance to fix the problem before the case is dismissed. 

The top half of the first page will usually tell you which court the notice is from and what lawsuit it’s for. 

Upsolve Users: If you’ve received a notice from the bankruptcy court that your case is in danger of being dismissed, make sure you read it carefully and make sure to let us know at upsolve.org/contact so we can give you the tools and information needed to correct the problem.