Bankruptcy In The United States

An annotated copy of the United States Bankruptcy Code

The United States Constitution (Article 1, Section 8, Clause 4), authorizes Congress to enact "uniform Laws on the subject of Bankruptcies throughout the United States." Congress has exercised this authority several times since 1801, most recently by adopting the Bankruptcy Reform Act of 1978, codified in Title 11 of the United States Code, commonly referred to as the Bankruptcy Code.

The Bankruptcy Code has been amended several times since 1978, most recently in extensive amendments in 2005 through the Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act of 2005. Some law relevant to bankruptcy is found in other parts of the United States Code.

For example, bankruptcy crimes are found in Title 18 of the United States Code (Crimes), tax implications of bankruptcy are found in Title 26 of the United States Code (Internal Revenue Code), and the creation and jurisdiction of bankruptcy courts are found in Title 28 of the United States Code (Judiciary and Judicial procedure).

While bankruptcy cases are always filed in United States bankruptcy court (which are units of the United States district courts), many rules that apply to bankruptcy cases, such as rules governing the validity of claims, or rules protecting certain property from creditors (known as exemptions), derive from state law.

State law therefore plays a major role in many bankruptcy cases and it is often unwise to generalize some bankruptcy issues across state lines.

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