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Basic Bankruptcy Terminology

Learn about fundamental bankruptcy concepts and terminology, including the various entities who participate in bankruptcy cases, along with claims, debts, liens, insolvency, and more.

Transcript

Bankruptcy is a highly technical discipline boasting its own peculiar jargon. There are many terms of art with sometimes strange and unintuitive meanings. For the student, it's crucial to become conversant with bankruptcy's distinct vocabulary.

I. Debtor

Let's start with the term debtor. Put simply, if a bankruptcy case is commenced concerning a person or municipality, then that person or municipality is a debtor. A person is an individual, corporation, or partnership. Generally, there are...

Lessons

    • 1. Welcome to Bankruptcy
    2. Foundations of Bankruptcy
    3. The Estate and the Automatic Stay
    4. Creditors, Claims, Discharge, and Priority
    5. Chapter 7 Liquidation
    • Chapter 7 Panel Trustee
    • Distribution of Estate Property in Chapter 7
    • Discharge in Chapter 7
    • Personal-Property Collateral in Chapter 7
    • General Grounds to Dismiss a Chapter 7 Case
    • Introduction to the Means Test and Dismissals or Conversions for Abuse
    6. Debt Adjustment in Chapter 13
    • Eligibility to File for Chapter 13
    • The Estate in Chapter 13
    • Introduction to the Chapter 13 Plan of Debt Adjustment
    • Terms Permitted in a Chapter 13 Plan
    • Chapter 13 Confirmation Requirements: Treatment of Secured Claims
    • Chapter 13 Confirmation Requirements: Treatment of Unsecured and Priority Claims
    7. Preferences
    • Introduction to Preferences
    • A Transfer to a Creditor or for a Creditor's Benefit Made for or on Account of an Antecedent Debt
    • A Transfer Enabling a Creditor to Receive More Than It Would in Chapter 7
    • The Net-Benefit Rule
    • Contemporaneous Exchanges for New Value
    • Transfers in the Ordinary Course of Business
    • Subsequent New Value