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GLOSSARY
A
Assets: All your belongings(Personal Property, Real Property, Intangible Property, Financial Accounts, etc.)
B
Bankruptcy: helps people who can no longer pay their debts get a fresh start by liquidating assets to pay their debts or by creating a repayment plan.
C
Confirmation Hearing: Is a hearing where the Bankruptcy Judge approves/ denies your Chapter 13 Repayment Plan.
Credit Counseling: Is a credit counseling class that helps you make sure that bankruptcy is right for you. You’ll review your finances. This is important because you will need it to file for bankruptcy.
Creditor: is someone (or entity) that has a right to payment or other remedy against/ from the debtor who is subject of the bankruptcy filing.
D
Debtor: is the person who files for bankruptcy.
Debtors Education: Known as the “Second” Course: You will have to take the second course 45-days after you meet with the Trustee. The course will provide you with financial management tools that you’ll be able to rely on after your bankruptcy is over. This is required to obtain a discharge.
Discharge: May occur during Chapter 7 or Chapter 13 bankruptcy proceedings; means that you no longer owe any money on that debt.
Dismissal: Means your bankruptcy case is closed. If your case is dismissed you’ve lost the protection of the automatic stay and you will continue to be liable for your debts.
E
Exempt Assets: Items that are not included in your bankruptcy filing.
F
Foreclosure: is the legal process by which a lender seizes and sells a home or property after a borrower is unable to meet their repayment obligation.
G
Debtor: is the person who files for bankruptcy.
H
Exempt Assets: Items that are not included in your bankruptcy filing.
I
Insider: (of corporate debtor)
A director, officer, or person in control of the debtor; a partnership in which the debtor is a general partner; a general partner of the debtor; or a relative of a general partner, director, officer or person in control of the debtor.
J
Joint Petition:
One bankruptcy petition filed by a husband and wife together.
K
K
L
Lien:
A charge upon specific property designed to secure payment of a debt or performance of an obligation.
Liquidated Claim:
A creditor's claim for a fixed amount of money.
Liquidation:
A sale of a debtor's property with the proceeds to be used for the benefit of creditors.
M
Means Test: A test that uses certain parameters to determine whether a debtor may file Chapter 7 bankruptcy for a full discharge of debt. Individuals with too much income after certain expenses are prohibited from filing Chapter 7 unless they qualify as an exception.
Meeting of Creditors: A Hearing all debtor(s) must attend in any bankruptcy proceeding. The meeting allows the trustee to review the debtors petition and schedules with the debtor(s).
Motion To Lift Automatic Stay:
A request by a creditor to allow the creditor to take an action against a debtor or the debtor's property that would otherwise be prohibited by the automatic stay.
N
Nonexempt Assets: Items that are included in your bankruptcy filing, which may be repossessed and liquidated.
No-Asset Case:
A chapter 7 case where no assets are available to satisfy any portion of the creditors' unsecured claims.
Nondischargeable Debt:
A debt that cannot be eliminated in bankruptcy.
O
Objection to Discharge:
A trustee's or creditor's objection to the debtor's being released from personal liability from certain discharged debts.
Objection to Exemptions:
A trustee's or creditor's objection to a debtor's attempt to claim certain property as exempt, i.e., not liable for any prepetition debt of the debtor.
P
Petition: A Bankruptcy Petition is the document filed by the debtor (filer) to initiate a bankruptcy case.
Party In Interest:
A party who is actually and substantially interested in the subject matter, as distinguished from one who has only a nominal or technical interest in it.
Plaintiff:
A person or business that files a formal complaint with the court.
Plan:
A debtor's detailed description of how the debtor proposes to pay creditors' claims over a fixed period of time.
Postpetition Transfer:
A transfer of a debtor's property made after the commencement of the case.
Preferential Debt Payment:
A debt payment made to a creditor in the 90-day period before a debtor files bankruptcy (or within one year if the creditor was an insider) that gives the creditor more than the creditor would receive in the debtor's chapter 7 case.
Priority:
The Bankruptcy Code's statutory ranking of unsecured claims that determines the order in which unsecured claims will be paid if there is not enough money to pay all unsecured claims in full.
Priority Claim:
An unsecured claim that is entitled to be paid ahead of other unsecured claims that are not entitled to priority status.
Proof of Claim:
A written statement describing the reason a debtor owes a creditor money. (There is an official form for this purpose).
Property Of The Estate:
All legal or equitable interests of the debtor in property as of the commencement of the case.
Q
Q
R
Reaffirmation: When you agree to new terms with your lenders during the bankruptcy process and do not seek to discharge your debt or cease your access to credit.
S
Schedules:
List submitted by the debtor along with the petition (or shortly thereafter) showing the debtor's assets, liabilities, and other financial information. (There are official forms a debtor must use.)
Secured Creditor:
An individual or business holding a claim against the debtor that is secured by a lien on property of the estate or that is subject to a right of setoff.
Secured Debt: Debt represented by collateral, such as an automobile or home. Secured creditors have the right to your collateral in the event you default on payments. Typically, secured debt is not fully discharged in bankruptcy and secured creditors are entitled to certain privileges
T
Trustee: Is an administrator who is assigned to your case by the US Trustee.
U
Unsecured Debt: Debt, such as credit card debt, that is not secured with collateral. During the bankruptcy process, creditors of unsecured debt are not able to repossess your personal property.
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