Bankruptcy Glossary

Bankruptcy Law Terms -C-

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z #

Cash collateral: Various kinds of cash assets such as, money, securities, documents of title, and proceeds, products, offspring, rents or profits of property, upon which a creditor has a lien or other secured interest.

Chapter 7: A liquidation bankruptcy for an individual, husband and wife, partnership or corporation; typically, nonexempt property is liquidated (sold) and the proceeds paid out to creditors on a pro-rata bases, and the debtor is discharged of liability for the debts. Certain categories of debtors are not entitled to a discharge, and certain categories of property are exempt (i.e., can not be taken from the debtor).

Chapter 9: A financial reorganization of a public entity. 

Chapter 11: A financial reorganization of a business.

Chapter 12: A financial reorganization of a family farming enterprise.

Chapter 13: An adjustment of debts of an individual.

Chapter 20: Courthouse slang; a chapter 7 bankruptcy which, after final discharge, is quickly followed by the same debtor filing a chapter 13.

Claim: Right to payment, whether or not such right is reduced to judgment, liquidated, unliquidated, fixed, contingent, matured, un-matured, disputed, undisputed, legal, equitable, secured, or unsecured; or a right to an equitable remedy for breach of performance if such breach gives rise to a right to payment, whether or not such right to an equitable remedy is reduced to judgment, fixed, contingent, matured, un-matured, disputed, undisputed, secured, or unsecured.

Claims agent: A claims agent is a person appointed to manage the filing and retention of proofs of claim.

Class of creditors: A group of creditors entitled to similar treatment in a bankruptcy case

Co-debtor stay: In Chapter 13 cases, an automatic stay which restrains creditor actions against someone who is co-liable with the debtor on a consumer debt, but who has not filed bankruptcy, and the debtor has agreed to pay the 100% of the debt through the chapter 13 plan.

Collateral: Property pledged to secure payment of a debt

Collective bargaining agreement: An employment agreement entered into by an employee with a group of employees to negotiate with the employer over pay, benefits etc.

Confirmation: A court's approval of a debtor's proposed plan in one of the reorganization chapters.

Consensual lien: A lien granted by agreement between the lien holder and the debtor, such as a mortgage or a UCC security interest.

Constructive trust: An equitable remedy under which a person who has acquired property by a wrongful act is deemed to hold the property in trust for the victim of the wrong.

Consumer debt: Debt incurred by an individual primarily for a personal, family, or household purpose.

Contested matter: A dispute in a bankruptcy proceeding that may be adjudicated by motion in the bankruptcy court. 

Contingent debt: A claim for which the debtor's legal duty to pay does not come into existence until triggered by the occurrence of a future event. conversion Changing a case from one chapter to another.

Core proceeding: A proceeding in a bankruptcy case that involves the adjudication of rights created by the Code, or concerns issues that could only arise in a bankruptcy case.

Creditor: An entity that has a claim against the debtor.

Custodian: May mean any of the following:
(A) a receiver or trustee of any of the property of the debtor, appointed in a case or proceeding not under this title; or
(B) an assignee under a general assignment for the benefit of the debtor's creditors; or
(C) a trustee, receiver, or agent that is appointed or authorized to take charge of property of the debtor for the purpose of enforcing a lien against such property.

Customer property: Cash, security, or other property received, acquired, or held by or for the account of the debtor, from or for the securities account of a customer.