Tenant in Bankruptcy Fighting Eviction

[Eric W.]

I have a tenant that just declared chapter 7 bankruptcy in the Northern District of Ohio, Toledo Bankruptcy Court and quit paying rent.  He stuck me with $1,000 in unpaid sewer bills also.  His lawyer informed me that I cannot evict him and won't give me any additional information aside from a case number.  I have done some reading online and it appears that the tenant is protected under bankruptcy law with a "automatic stay" which prevents collection actions or eviction.  It seems that I can get a "relief of stay" so that I can evict him, but I don't know the process and I'm traveling for work so couldn't handle it myself anyway if I need to be in a courtroom.

I've contacted several local lawyers but they all work on the other side, filing for bankruptcy and defending defaulters.  I'm searching for a lawyer, or even a property manager, who can guide me through this process and hopefully get my property freed up to rent again.  Collecting damages for past due rent and outstanding sewer bills (that get assessed to my taxes) would certainly be nice too.

[Andrew Fidler]

@Matt Weisenburger

If anyone handles the landlord side of things it Matt- he's part of our REIA group PIN in Toledo as well as the legal counsel for my brokerage, Stonehenge Realty. (Matt just handled an eviction with me Monday we well)

Matt- can you advise?