Legal Question in Bankruptcy in Michigan

The judge has to approve the sale of the debt, and the standard is the exercise of "business judgement". In other words, would a reasonable and prudent business person sell the debt instead of continuing with attempts to collect directly.

No one wants to give away money, so it's very likely that the $400,000 judgment is not easily collectible, if at all. Ten years is sufficient time to attempt collection before giving up.

There's also the issue of hourly fees v. contingent fees. Bankruptcy attorneys usually work on an hourly basis. They are not collection attorneys. This means that the bankruptcy estate's other assets are paying for the collection efforts, so it's time to bring that to an end. Perhaps the bankruptcy attorneys tried to hire a collection attorney, or perhaps not, but after ten years it's certainly time to bring the entire bankruptcy case to a close, selling the debt for what it can bring in and then distributing that money.