I have a close friend who had to file bankruptcy due to his business going under. When he filed bankruptcy, his bankruptcy attorney noticed that he already had a bankruptcy in his name. It wound up being a case of fraud and someone else had filed bankruptcy in my friend's name. There was a court proceeding and the person charged with the fraud owes money to my friend, which I believe he will probably never receive. The main question that I have is this: The attorney that asked him to appear in court for the fraud case against the other individual told my friend that he had to obtain an attorney to get the fraudulant bankruptcy removed from his record. Therefore, does my friend have to spend money to remove the fraudulent bankruptcy that he didn't create? If not, what can be done??

If he cannot get the fraudulent filing set aside - maybe he can, maybe he can't - he would pay an Attorney and then sue the person who used his name for the legal fees.

Of course, if the friend has nothing he will probably collect nothing.

... does my friend have to spend money to remove the fraudulent bankruptcy that he didn't create?.

Attorneys don't generally work for free. So, yes, of course. Do you imagine an attorney would do this out of the goodness of his or her heart?

Attorneys don't generally work for free. So, yes, of course. Do you imagine an attorney would do this out of the goodness of his or her heart?

I would've thought this would've been removed somehow upon the outcome of the court hearing proving that the other man committed the fraud.

Did your friend and/or his Attorney notify the Court, ask that it be removed?

Identity theft issues are usually upon the victim to clean up the mess, or make the appropriate requests... he's lucky it wasn't far worse... I know a victim and know what they went through for years after the event.

First rule is assume nothing... except assume nobody did anything...