Something not enough bankruptcy filers are told: the paperwork you file at the start of your case is not set in stone. If you discover something later — an asset you forgot, a debt you missed, or, as in a recent Middle District of Pennsylvania case, a legal claim you didn’t know you had — the rules let you fix your schedules. And a recent decision, In re Martin, confirms that even the company your claim is against can’t block you from doing it.
What Happened in the Martin Case
Melissa Martin was in a Chapter 13 case in the Middle District of Pennsylvania. During the case, she amended her Schedule A/B — the form that lists what you own — for a third time, this time to disclose potential claims against her own mortgage company, Freedom Mortgage Corporation, under federal mortgage-servicing law: RESPA, TILA, and Regulation Z, based on how her loan was serviced while the bankruptcy was pending.
Freedom Mortgage objected to the amendment. It argued the amendment was filed in bad faith, that it prejudiced creditors and the trustee, and that the doctrine of judicial estoppel barred it. On April 29, 2026, Judge Mark J. Conway overruled the objection across the board. Yes, Freedom had standing to object. But standing was all it had: it failed to prove bad faith, and it failed to prove prejudice.
The Rule: Amending Is Your Right, and the Objector Has to Prove Abuse
Federal Rule of Bankruptcy Procedure 1009 gives a debtor a liberal right to amend schedules. The court’s analysis in Martin follows the framework courts use for these fights: an amendment can be blocked, but the party objecting carries the burden of proving the amendment was made in bad faith or that it actually prejudices other parties. Suspicion isn’t enough. And the fact that the amendment discloses claims against the objector itself doesn’t make it improper — if anything, disclosure is exactly what the system wants.
There’s a flip side every filer should understand, and it’s called judicial estoppel. If you don’t disclose a claim in your bankruptcy and then try to sue on it later, courts can throw the claim out entirely — you can’t tell the bankruptcy court “I have nothing” and tell another court “I’m owed money.” Freedom tried to turn that doctrine against the amendment itself, and the court wasn’t having it. The way you avoid judicial estoppel is precisely what Ms. Martin did: disclose the claim in the bankruptcy, in writing, on the record.
What This Means for Pennsylvania Filers
If something surfaces after you file — you learn your mortgage servicer mishandled your payments, you discover a claim against a former employer, a tax refund comes in bigger than expected — tell your lawyer and get it on the schedules. The amendment process exists for this. Hiding an asset or a claim, even one you think is a long shot, is how cases get dismissed and claims get killed. Disclosing it costs you a form. In Martin, disclosure won.
Source: In re Melissa A. Martin, Case No. 5:24-bk-01277-MJC (Bankr. M.D. Pa. Apr. 29, 2026). Read the opinion (PDF).
If you’re in a bankruptcy now — or thinking about filing — and you’re sitting on a possible claim against a lender or servicer, give us a call so we can discuss how to protect it before it becomes a problem.
