Alo Ceballos/GC ImagesWhile Teresa Giudice may have already spent nearly a year in prison for fraud charges, a New Jersey judge just ruled to reopen her bankruptcy case.
The Real Housewives of New Jersey cast member and husband Joe Giudice were originally sent to jail on 39 counts of various fraud, including bankruptcy fraud and bank fraud—charges that stemmed from a bankruptcy filing in October 2009 that they subsequently dropped in 2011.
While they inevitably plead guilty to the multiple federal charges in 2014 and both have been sentenced to time in prison, their total debt from their initial 2009 filing has yet to be completely paid off seven years later.
While the reality couple has been using a payment plan to pay off their owed back taxes, U.S. Bankruptcy Court Judge Stacey L. Meisel decided Tuesday that the proceedings would be reopened, Giudice's bankruptcy attorney Carlos J. Cuevas confirmed to E! News.
"Satisfied means paid in full in my book," Meisel reportedly told Cuevas and co-counsel Anthony Rainone in court, as reported by NJ Advance Media. "There may have been a satisfaction of a number of creditors... but the fact remains that creditors still exist."
Simultaneously, the couple filed a lawsuit against their former bankruptcy attorney James Kridel, whom the couple alleges mishandled their 2009 bankruptcy filing—the basis of the 2013 federal bankruptcy fraud case that put both parents in jail.
Michael Kopelman, the lawyer representing the creditors of their initial bankruptcy filing, argued in court that any winnings earned from the separate malpractice case should go to them as they allege it predates the bankruptcy filing.
"[Judge Meisel] did not make a ruling as to whether or not Ms. Giudice is the owner of the claims underlying the Kridel lawsuit. So, Ms. Giudice is now in discussions with her bankruptcy trustee to try to reach a settlement concerning the ownership of the claims underlying the Kridel lawsuit," Cuevas continued to E! News. "We are going to try to reach a settlement with the trustee in which the funds from the Kridel lawsuit could be earmarked to pay her back taxes."
"A lot is going on, so stay tuned," Cuevas concluded.
—Additional reporting by Beth Sobol