What is an Adversary Proceeding and what does it have to do with my bankruptcy?
Essentially, an “adversary proceeding” is a lawsuit filed in bankruptcy court stemming from, or resulting from a person or business actually filing bankruptcy. It may be filed against a person filing bankruptcy, or against someone else that has some sort of connection to the bankruptcy in some way. It could be someone that was paid money prior to the bankruptcy or a creditor. It may be a family member of the person filing bankruptcy.
To know exactly what connection the “adversary proceeding” has to your bankruptcy case, you will want to sit down with your bankruptcy attorney and discuss the adversary proceeding itself. Your attorney will advise you what, if anything, you need to do because of the “adversary proceeding.
Anyone that has an adversary proceeding filed against them is called a Defendant. It is very important for that person to employ an attorney to represent them. If the Defendant is the person that filed bankruptcy, called the debtor, then it is possible that the debtor’s attorney in the bankruptcy case may be able to represent the debtor/defendant in the adversary proceeding. It is likely that the debtor/defendant will be required to pay the attorney an additional fee to handle the adversary proceeding, above and beyond the fee that was paid to handle the bankruptcy case itself.
If you are a defendant, then you will know you have been sued and named as a defendant in an adversary proceeding because you will be served with the lawsuit, likely by United States Mail. There is no requirement in federal court that lawsuits be served by a law enforcement officer or a process server.
