What are bankruptcy chapters?

There are six types of bankruptcy under the Bankruptcy Code, located within Title 11 of the United States Code:

Chapter 7: is entitled Liquidation and deals with individuals and businesses and is further broken into the following subchapters: Officers And Administration; Collection, Liquidation And Distribution Of The Estate; Stockbroker Liquidation, Commodity Broker Liquidation; Clearing Bank Liquidation;
Chapter 9: is entitled Adjustment of Debts of a Municipality;
Chapter 11: is merely headed as Bankruptcy but is broken into many subchapters; General Provisions; Case Administration; Creditors, The Debtor And The Estate; Liquidation; Adjustment Of Debts Of A Municipality; Reorganization, Adjustment Of Debts Of A Family Farmer Or Fisherman With Regular Annual Income; Adjustment Of Debts Of An Individual With Regular Income; Ancillary And Other Cross-Border Case;
Chapter 12: Adjustment of Debts of a Family Farmer or Fisherman with Regular Annual Income;
Chapter 13: Adjustment of Debts of an Individual with Regular Income;
Chapter 15: Ancillary And Other Cross-Border Cases.

Of course, most people who are going to declare bankruptcy will be concerned with Chapter 7 of the United States Code. Chapter 7 was created in order to allow a debtor(s) a fresh beginning, however there are of course a lot of exceptions to filing a Chapter 7 bankruptcy, for instance it does not remove liens on real property.

Petitioners are responsible to pay the filing fees for the bankruptcy court and assorted administrative fees. Under certain conditions, if the debtor(s) is unable to even pay those fees, they can petition the court to have them waived. They also need to report to the court among other things, assets and liabilities, what their current income is and what their other credit payments are, any contracts they are obligated for, tax returns, proof of having had credit counseling, what property they own, any agreed upon repayment agreements, tuition accounts and interest owed on those, as well as any and all obligations they have for living expenses. Petitioners need to be aware of their state’s position on exempt property and the federal government’s position as well.

Once the petition is filed correctly the collection actions of the debtors will stop until such time as the courts make a decision. A meeting between the creditors and the debtor(s) will then be held. The bankruptcy filing creates an “estate” out of all the possessions of the debtor(s). Eventually the estate will repay the creditors from the non-exempt portions of the estate, at which point the individual(s) will receive a discharge for the majority of their debts.