The bankrupt debtors are the ones who didn't survive economically.

Nor can the bankrupt debtor still be held personally responsible (except in a Chapter 13 filing).

These exemptions allow bankrupt debtors to shield the entire value of their homes from creditors.

Bankruptcy courts in the United States have the power and authority to subordinate prior claims on the assets of a bankrupt debtor to the claims of junior claimants based on principles of equity.

It not only makes bankrupt debtors wait eight years to clear their debts again, but it also requires many of those who do go back into bankruptcy to pay previous credit card bills that may have been excused under the old law.

Mr. Weller said Sears realizes that if it had simply followed the rules, it probably could have persuaded many bankrupt debtors to sign reaffirmation agreements and probably could have received court approval for a large number of them.

If a bankrupt debtor owed money to two people after concluding a contract, but only one of them had contracted for a proprietary right over the debtor's assets (known as a security interest) then the person with the proprietary right takes priority.

Security interests are particularly valuable in bankruptcy, because creditors who have security interests in a bankrupt debtor's estate take precedence over creditors who lack such interests (unsecured creditors) in the distribution of the debtor's assets.

For the credit-card issuers and consumer-finance companies whose well-financed lobbyists backed the bill (whose central provision requires bankrupt debtors with incomes exceeding their statewide median incomes to settle for long-term repayment plans), the results should prove more gratifying.

'Priority Rule' Cited Under the "absolute priority rule" of the Bankruptcy Code, which provides that creditors must be satisfied before bankrupt debtors may be allowed to retain any interest in their property in a Chapter 11 reorganization, the couple's banks asserted that they were entitled to foreclose.