Can a trustee from a bankruptcy come back 14 months after the discharge?

Under the bankruptcy code, any transfer of real property will be scrutinized - especially when the transaction occurs between the Debtor and an insider (not an arms-length transaction). In this particular case, it appears that you transferred the land to your sister to prevent your creditors from attaching liens to the property. It also appears that you transferred the land without consideration (something of value - like money), which in most circumstances is viewed as an illegal transfer (even outside of bankruptcy). The Trustee is looking at the property as an asset that you should have claimed on your bankruptcy and is using some mechanism to value the property at $50,000. In most cases, you can receive a discharge but unless the Trustee "closes" your case, the case can remain open for months or even years. During the period your case has been discharged but remains open, you must be careful in selling any asset that you possessed at the time you filed your bankruptcy. In regards to the land you transferred to your sister, you can voluntarily put the land back in your name (with your sister's cooperation), but the Trustee will then seek to seize the land for the purpose of selling the property for the benefit of your creditors; or you can tell your sister to surrender the property to the Trustee. You probably want to speak to an experienced bankruptcy attorney to ensure your specific situation does not get out of hand.

The bankruptcy trustee can sue to recover an asset that was fraudulently transferred within 4 years prior to filing of bankruptcy. She can deed the property to the trustee. You or she should consult an attorney to see if there are any defenses.

You committed multiple frauds and likely perjury. Not only will your mistake cost you money and possibly the land, but you could go to prison. This is what happens when people try to save the small legal fee a lawyer charges. You now have a legal emergency to stay out of prison, try to protect yourself, and avoid revocation of your discharge. You could spend up to 5 years in prison. Your bankruptcy petition asked specific questions that would have required disclosure of all this, so you obviously lied. A lawyer would have told you NOT to file on these facts. Now expect to pay dearly for saving those few dollars.

The transfer of the property can be set aside by the trustee. It is what is known as a fraudulent conveyance and possibly a preferential transfer within two years of filing bankruptcy. You did the transfer to prevent your creditors from taking the property and received no consideration (money) for doing that to avoid losing it to creditors. You are not allowed to do that even if you were not thinking about bankrutpcy when you did it. Your creditors could have gone after your sister to get the property and the trustee in bankruptcy has the same right to recover the property and sell it to pay your creditors. If your sister does not pay then the trustee will ask the bankrutpcy court to set aside the transfer and to allow him to sell the property. Transferring it back to your name would do you no good, would probably make the situation worse and easier for the trustee to take the property. You should have legal representation. You are in a very dangerous situation and need an attorney so don't do anything until you hire a lawyer to represent you. This has nothing to do with your sister's credit. It will not be a foreclosure. It will be an order from the bankrutpcy court transferring the property (undoing the transfer). The trustee is not getting away with anything. That is the law of bankrutpcy and if you had told your lawyer about having transferred valuable property in the previous four years, and particularly in the previous two years, the lawyer would have told you that the property could be taken by the trustee in bankrutpcy to pay your creditors. There are defenses that might apply in your case but you need to take immediate action. Good luck. T

It sounds that what you did was probably a fraudulent conveyance of your residence. You did not have to have a fraudulent intent. The point being that for whatever reason you gave the property to your sister for nothing before filing your bankruptcy case. Knowing that you were going to file a bankruptcy has nothing to do with it. You can consider yourself lucky that you still have a discharge and not accused of a crime by failing to disclose it. These matters happen if you represent yourself or hire an inexperienced or discount attorney. The Trustee is not getting away with anything. He is just doing his job. Your discharge did not close the estate. You will not be able to undo this. It should have been considered by competent counsel before filing. Competent counsel would have public records research software which would have discovered this in the public records and protected you from yourself.

Your sister needs to hire a bankruptcy attorney immediately to defend against the Trustee. What you did may have constituted a transfer or gift prior to the bankruptcy filing, and/or a violation of the Michigan Fraudulent Conveyance Act. This transfer should have been reported on your original Statement of Financial Affairs on your filed bankruptcy schedules if done within two years prior to your Chapter 7 being filed. And yes, the Trustee can pursue this unreported asset/transfer so your sister needs to retain counsel immediately.