{
  "id": "R45137",
  "type": "CRS Report",
  "typeId": "R",
  "number": "R45137",
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  "source": "CRSReports.Congress.gov, EveryCRSReport.com",
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      "title": "Bankruptcy Basics: A Primer",
      "source": "CRSReports.Congress.gov",
      "retrieved": "2022-11-22T04:03:47.188786",
      "date": "2022-10-12",
      "typeId": "R",
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      "source": "EveryCRSReport.com",
      "id": 585062,
      "date": "2018-03-22",
      "retrieved": "2019-12-20T21:41:38.589240",
      "title": "Bankruptcy Basics: A Primer",
      "summary": "U.S. bankruptcy law has two central aims. First, bankruptcy law seeks to relieve debtors of certain obligations they are unable to repay by providing them with a \u201cfresh start\u201d from financial difficulties. At the same time, bankruptcy law attempts to preserve the countervailing interests of creditors and other stakeholders by maximizing total creditor return in an orderly and efficient fashion. Congress and the courts have established a complex system of statutes, procedural rules, and judicial precedents intended to balance these competing interests.\nVarious types of debtors\u2014from individual consumers with modest incomes to the largest multinational corporations\u2014may potentially encounter difficulty repaying their debts. To accommodate the differing needs of such debtors, the Bankruptcy Code\u2014which is the primary source of bankruptcy law in the United States\u2014contains a variety of \u201cChapters\u201d which create several different forms of bankruptcy proceedings. Although the end goal of each of those proceedings is to balance the conflicting interests of debtors, creditors, and other stakeholders, each Chapter has its own procedures, eligibility requirements, and forms of relief. Whereas some Chapters aim to liquidate the debtor, others attempt to reorganize the debtor so that it may continue to operate as a going concern, while still others adjust the debtor\u2019s debts.\nThis report serves as a primer for Members and their staffs on the basics of U.S. bankruptcy law. The report provides a brief overview of the most essential concepts necessary for an informed understanding of the U.S. bankruptcy system, including\nthe competing policies underlying the Bankruptcy Code;\nthe sources of bankruptcy law;\nthe organization of the Bankruptcy Code;\nthe key players in a bankruptcy proceeding;\nthe initiation of a bankruptcy case;\nthe \u201cautomatic stay\u201d of creditor actions against the debtor;\nthe various types of proceedings established by different Chapters of the Bankruptcy Code, as well as the differences between those proceedings; and\nthe \u201cdischarge\u201d of debt.",
      "type": "CRS Report",
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      "topics": [
        {
          "source": "IBCList",
          "id": 4755,
          "name": "Judicial Branch"
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "topics": [
    "Foreign Affairs"
  ]
}