Legal Question in Credit and Debt Law in Virginia

You may or may not have any rights to collect. First, you need to determine if your claim is subject to an exception to discharge, either automatic or not. If the judgment was for personal injuries caused by a drunk driver, or was for alimony or support, or property settlement in a divorce, among other things, it may be non-dischargeable without your having to do anything. If it arose out of the debtor's fraud, theft, fiduciary defalcation, or willful and malicious injury, you may be able to except it from discharge, but you need to sue the debtor by the deadline fixed by the court (60 days after the date first set for the meeting of creditors) in bankruptcy court to obtain such a determination. If the debt is non-dischargeable, you are free to collect after the bankruptcy is over. If not, you are limited to two things: (a) if you have a lien on real estate or other property, you retain that lien unless the debtor can avoid it, and you would thus have the right to have that property sold to satisfy the debt; and (b) if the trustee administers any assets in the bankruptcy case, you can file a proof of claim and share in the distribution. You can also look at the bankruptcy case and see if you can assert grounds to deny the debtor a discharge altogether (fraud in the bankruptcy case, for example), or to dismiss or convert the case to another chapter (excess income, for example). It may make sense to have a lawyer review this. However, please understand that the vast majority of chapter 7 cases result in claims being discharged and creditors receiving nothing.