When your bankruptcy attorney tells you that you have a Chapter 7 discharge, just what t does he mean? A Chapter 7 discharge is issued by the bankruptcy court when your case has reached the point where you are no longer responsible for paying the debts you have accumulated. In other words, your bankruptcy has wiped out those debts, and none of your creditors can try to collect those particular debts ever again. This can take place in as little as 60 to 90 days after the bankruptcy case has been filed. A person can be denied a Chapter 7 discharge for several reasons. The most common cause is when the courts discover that this person has concealed or destroyed any property, which would be considered as an asset. As your assets are obtained by the court, ostensively for a court-supervised sale to profit your creditors, any hidden assets would be severely frowned upon by the courts.