I came across a publication released by the United States Department of Justice.
Have you ever heard of a creditor refusing to comply with your Automatic Stay or Permanent Injunction in a Chapter 7 or 13 case? If they say they can still collect because the debt wasn't listed, pay close attention. You may be led to believe you are required to reopen the case in order to include the debt, or that the debt is not dischargable. This is incorrect.
Here is an excerpt from the US DOJ. The link is US Department of Justice
When an otherwise dischargeable debt is omitted from the schedule in a Chapter 7 no-asset case and the debtor receives a discharge, what is the effect of reopening the case to permit the debtor to schedule the omitted debt?
The answer is "there is no effect." The reason that the reopening has no effect is clear. A debtor cannot change the nature of the debt by failing to list it in his petition and schedules. Section 523(a)(3)(A) excepts from discharge only those debts as to which a timely proof of claim cannot be filed because the debts were not listed and the creditor had neither notice nor actual knowledge of the bankruptcy in time to file a timely proof of claim. In a no-asset Chapter 7 case, there is no date by which a proof of claim must be filed in order to be "timely." Whenever the creditor receives notice or acquires actual knowledge of the bankruptcy, he may file a proof of claim, that claim will be timely, and the fact that the debts were not listed becomes irrelevant. Section 523(a)(3)(A) simply provides no basis for excepting an unlisted debt from discharge if the creditor has actual knowledge such that he can file a proof of claim. And once the ｧ727 order of discharge is entered, all of the debtor's prepetition debts are either discharged or they are not discharged; nothing the debtor does after the entry of the order of discharge can change the character of those debts. Madaj, 149 F.3d at 472.
In other words, reopening a closed no-asset case to add a creditor has no effect on whether the omitted debt is discharged. See Beezley v. California Land Title Co. (In re Beezley), 994 F.2d 1433, 1434 (9th Cir. 1993) (per curiam); American Standard Ins. Co. v. Bakehorn, 147 B.R. 480, 483-84 (N.D. Ind. 1992).
In plain English, at any time after you file a BK or even discharge it, the debtor can still challenge the dischargabilitiy of the debt by filing an adversary motion. All debts, whether listed or unlisted, known or unknown are discharged. At any time, the creditor can file a proof of claim if they wish to challenge it. Chances are they won't do this unless they can prove fraud (like running up a $10k credit card balance the week before you file, etc.)
