Legal Question in Banking Law in California

Re: Bankruptcy

If the debtor obtains what is known as a "discharge" in bankruptcy, the existing judgment is eliminated in the sense that the creditor cannot do anything to collect on the judgment.

There are exceptions to this, however, including: (a) if a judgment lien had been perfected more than 90 days before the bankruptcy filing, the judgment lien can still be enforced after the bankruptcy discharge, (b) if the judgment is based on fraud, the creditor can file what is known as an "adversary action" to have the judgment deemed "nondischargeable", so that it survives the bankruptcy discharge.

The exeptions depend on the specific facts of the case, but the general rule is that the bankruptcy discharge eliminates a judgment listed on the schedules.