United States Bankruptcy Code
The US Constitution allows Congress to enact “uniform laws on the subject of bankruptcies throughout the united states.” These uniform laws are referred to as the bankruptcy code. The code has been changed several times over the history of the US, with many new changes as recent as 2005 as part of the Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act. These changes were made to the Bankruptcy Reform Act of 1978, which is codified as Title 11 of the United States Code. Title 11 contains rules pertaining to how bankruptcies are handled in the US, but some aspects of a bankruptcy may fall into other Titles of the United States Code, such as Title 26 for rules on taxes. Even though the code is supposed to create uniform laws, there are variations between each state depending on the laws of the state.
There are many different chapters within the United States Code. These chapters are typically referenced as types of bankruptcy. The most popular of these chapters are 7 and 13.
We have found that the best online reference for the US Bankruptcy Code is Cornell University Law School. Many other sites containing the information are outdated.
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