Bankruptcy Terms and Definitions

United States Trustee
An agent of the U.S. Department of Justice appointed to assist in bankruptcy cases. The U.S. Trustee administers many of the duties of the court including appointing committees.

Bankruptcy estate
Generally, the property of the debtor that is subject to the jurisdiction of the bankruptcy court.

Chapter Nine
Bankruptcies of municipalities; only a few of these are filed each year; over the period 1980 through 1988 there averaged about 4 Chapter 9 filings per year.

Chapter Twenty Two
An unofficial term describing a company that has filed for Chapter 11 twice.

Bankruptcy Court
The federal tribunal where cases under the Bankruptcy Code are litigated.

Chapter Twelve
Family farmer bankruptcies; created by Congress in 1986 (Chapter 12 became effective on November 26, 1986 and is now a permanent Chapter of the Bankruptcy Code); only a family owned farm business can qualify for Chapter 12

Asset
An economic resource or item owned by a business that is expected to benefit its future operations.

Skeleton filing
Term used at bankruptcy courts to describe a bankruptcy filing in which not all the necessary forms have been filed. Certain courts allow a case to commence if only certain important forms are filed so long as the balance of required forms are forthcoming within a certain period of time.

Period of exclusivity
Personal bankruptcy - filed by an individual; also called a household bankruptcy, consumer bankruptcy or wage-earner bankruptcy. (see Chapter 13 and also Chapter 12).

Straight bankruptcy
An informal term for a Chapter 7 bankruptcy or liquidation; used more commonly to describe liquidation before the Bankruptcy Reform Act of 1978.