Opinion
Case No. 04-27599PM.
February 11, 2008
MEMORANDUM OF DECISION
The Debtors' Motion for Contempt charges that Discover Card and its representatives are in contempt of the discharge injunction of 11 U.S.C. § 524(a) on account of their failure to remove various judgment liens from the Land Records of Calvert County, Maryland. These liens appear to have been recorded prior to the filing on July 26, 2004, of Debtors' bankruptcy case under Chapter 7.
The Motion will be denied. An unchallenged lien survives the bankruptcy discharge of a debtor. While the underlying debt is discharged as a personal obligation of the debtors, the lien may be enforced by a proceeding in rem. Cen-Pen Corporation v. Hanson, 58 F.3d 89, 93-94 (CA4 1995). Unless a lien is avoided by a specific provision of the Bankruptcy Code or an order of the Bankruptcy Court, the lien is said to "ride through" the case and remain impressed upon the property after its conclusion. In re Drazenovich, 292 B.R. 101, 108 (BC Md. 2003).