Bankruptcy Terms Glossary
Sec. 101. Definitions


In this title -

  • (1) ''accountant'' means accountant authorized under applicable
    law to practice public accounting, and includes professional
    accounting association, corporation, or partnership, if so
    authorized;
  • (2) ''affiliate'' means -
    • (A) entity that directly or indirectly owns, controls, or
      holds with power to vote, 20 percent or more of the outstanding
      voting securities of the debtor, other than an entity that
      holds such securities -
      • (i) in a fiduciary or agency capacity without sole
        discretionary power to vote such securities; or
      • (ii) solely to secure a debt, if such entity has not in
        fact exercised such power to vote;
    • (B) corporation 20 percent or more of whose outstanding
      voting securities are directly or indirectly owned, controlled,
      or held with power to vote, by the debtor, or by an entity that
      directly or indirectly owns, controls, or holds with power to
      vote, 20 percent or more of the outstanding voting securities
      of the debtor, other than an entity that holds such securities
      -
      • (i) in a fiduciary or agency capacity without sole
        discretionary power to vote such securities; or
      • (ii) solely to secure a debt, if such entity has not in
        fact exercised such power to vote;
    • (C) person whose business is operated under a lease or
      operating agreement by a debtor, or person substantially all of
      whose property is operated under an operating agreement with
      the debtor; or
    • (D) entity that operates the business or substantially all of
      the property of the debtor under a lease or operating
      agreement;
  • (4)  ''attorney'' means attorney, professional law
    association, corporation, or partnership, authorized under
    applicable law to practice law;
     So in original. There is no par. (3).
  • (5) ''claim'' means -
    • (A) right to payment, whether or not such right is reduced to
      judgment, liquidated, unliquidated, fixed, contingent, matured,
      unmatured, disputed, undisputed, legal, equitable, secured, or
      unsecured; or
    • (B) right to an equitable remedy for breach of performance if
      such breach gives rise to a right to payment, whether or not
      such right to an equitable remedy is reduced to judgment,
      fixed, contingent, matured, unmatured, disputed, undisputed,
      secured, or unsecured;
  • (6) ''commodity broker'' means futures commission merchant,
    foreign futures commission merchant, clearing organization,
    leverage transaction merchant, or commodity options dealer, as
    defined in section  of this title, with respect to which there
    is a customer, as defined in section  of this title;
  • (7) ''community claim'' means claim that arose before the
    commencement of the case concerning the debtor for which property
    of the kind specified in section (a)(2) of this title is
    liable, whether or not there is any such property at the time of
    the commencement of the case;
  • (8) ''consumer debt'' means debt incurred by an individual
    primarily for a personal, family, or household purpose;
  • (9) ''corporation'' -
    • (A) includes -
      • (i) association having a power or privilege that a private
        corporation, but not an individual or a partnership,
        possesses;
      • (ii) partnership association organized under a law that
        makes only the capital subscribed responsible for the debts
        of such association;
      • (iii) joint-stock company;
      • (iv) unincorporated company or association; or
      • (v) business trust; but
    • (B) does not include limited partnership;
  • (10) ''creditor'' means -
    • (A) entity that has a claim against the debtor that arose at
      the time of or before the order for relief concerning the
      debtor;
    • (B) entity that has a claim against the estate of a kind
      specified in section (d), (f), (g), (h) or 502(i)
      of this title; or
    • (C) entity that has a community claim;
  • (11) ''custodian'' means -
    • (A) receiver or trustee of any of the property of the debtor,
      appointed in a case or proceeding not under this title;
    • (B) assignee under a general assignment for the benefit of
      the debtor's creditors; or
    • (C) trustee, receiver, or agent under applicable law, or
      under a contract, that is appointed or authorized to take
      charge of property of the debtor for the purpose of enforcing a
      lien against such property, or for the purpose of general
      administration of such property for the benefit of the debtor's
      creditors;
  • (12) ''debt'' means liability on a claim;
  • (12A) ''debt for child support'' means a debt of a kind
    specified in section (a)(5) of this title for maintenance or
    support of a child of the debtor;
  • (13) ''debtor'' means person or municipality concerning which a
    case under this title has been commenced;
  • (14) ''disinterested person'' means person that -
    • (A) is not a creditor, an equity security holder, or an
      insider;
    • (B) is not and was not an investment banker for any
      outstanding security of the debtor;
    • (C) has not been, within three years before the date of the
      filing of the petition, an investment banker for a security of
      the debtor, or an attorney for such an investment banker in
      connection with the offer, sale, or issuance of a security of
      the debtor;
    • (D) is not and was not, within two years before the date of
      the filing of the petition, a director, officer, or employee of
      the debtor or of an investment banker specified in subparagraph
      (B) or (C) of this paragraph; and
      (E) does not have an interest materially adverse to the
      interest of the estate or of any class of creditors or equity
      security holders, by reason of any direct or indirect
      relationship to, connection with, or interest in, the debtor or
      an investment banker specified in subparagraph (B) or (C) of
      this paragraph, or for any other reason;
  • (15) ''entity'' includes person, estate, trust, governmental
    unit, and United States trustee;
  • (16) ''equity security'' means -
    • (A) share in a corporation, whether or not transferable or
      denominated ''stock'', or similar security;
    • (B) interest of a limited partner in a limited partnership;
      or
    • (C) warrant or right, other than a right to convert, to
      purchase, sell, or subscribe to a share, security, or interest
      of a kind specified in subparagraph (A) or (B) of this
      paragraph;
  • (17) ''equity security holder'' means holder of an equity
    security of the debtor;
  • (18) ''family farmer'' means -
    • (A) individual or individual and spouse engaged in a farming
      operation whose aggregate debts do not exceed $1,500,000 and
      not less than 80 percent of whose aggregate noncontingent,
      liquidated debts (excluding a debt for the principal residence
      of such individual or such individual and spouse unless such
      debt arises out of a farming operation), on the date the case
      is filed, arise out of a farming operation owned or operated by
      such individual or such individual and spouse, and such
      individual or such individual and spouse receive from such
      farming operation more than 50 percent of such individual's or
      such individual and spouse's gross income for the taxable year
      preceding the taxable year in which the case concerning such
      individual or such individual and spouse was filed; or
    • (B) corporation or partnership in which more than 50 percent
      of the outstanding stock or equity is held by one family, or by
      one family and the relatives of the members of such family, and
      such family or such relatives conduct the farming operation,
      and
      (i) more than 80 percent of the value of its assets
      consists of assets related to the farming operation;
      • (ii) its aggregate debts do not exceed $1,500,000 and not
        less than 80 percent of its aggregate noncontingent,
        liquidated debts (excluding a debt for one dwelling which is
        owned by such corporation or partnership and which a
        shareholder or partner maintains as a principal residence,
        unless such debt arises out of a farming operation), on the
        date the case is filed, arise out of the farming operation
        owned or operated by such corporation or such partnership;
        and
        (iii) if such corporation issues stock, such stock is not
        publicly traded;
  • (19) ''family farmer with regular annual income'' means family
    farmer whose annual income is sufficiently stable and regular to
    enable such family farmer to make payments under a plan under
    chapter  of this title;
  • (20) ''farmer'' means (except when such term appears in the
    term ''family farmer'') person that received more than 80 percent
    of such person's gross income during the taxable year of such
    person immediately preceding the taxable year of such person
    during which the case under this title concerning such person was
    commenced from a farming operation owned or operated by such
    person;
  • (21) ''farming operation'' includes farming, tillage of the
    soil, dairy farming, ranching, production or raising of crops,
    poultry, or livestock, and production of poultry or livestock
    products in an unmanufactured state;
  • (21A) ''farmout agreement'' means a written agreement in which
    -
    • (A) the owner of a right to drill, produce, or operate liquid
      or gaseous hydrocarbons on property agrees or has agreed to
      transfer or assign all or a part of such right to another
      entity; and
      (B) such other entity (either directly or through its agents
      or its assigns), as consideration, agrees to perform drilling,
      reworking, recompleting, testing, or similar or related
      operations, to develop or produce liquid or gaseous
      hydrocarbons on the property;
  • (21B) ''Federal depository institutions regulatory agency''
    means -
    • (A) with respect to an insured depository institution (as
      defined in section 3(c)(2) of the Federal Deposit Insurance
      Act) for which no conservator or receiver has been appointed,
      the appropriate Federal banking agency (as defined in section
      3(q) of such Act);
    • (B) with respect to an insured credit union (including an
      insured credit union for which the National Credit Union
      Administration has been appointed conservator or liquidating
      agent), the National Credit Union Administration;
    • (C) with respect to any insured depository institution for
      which the Resolution Trust Corporation has been appointed
      conservator or receiver, the Resolution Trust Corporation; and
      (D) with respect to any insured depository institution for
      which the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation has been
      appointed conservator or receiver, the Federal Deposit
      Insurance Corporation;
  • (22) ''financial institution'' means a person that is a
    commercial or savings bank, industrial savings bank, savings and
    loan association, or trust company and, when any such person is
    acting as agent or custodian for a customer in connection with a
    securities contract, as defined in section  of this title,
    such customer;
  • (23) ''foreign proceeding'' means proceeding, whether judicial
    or administrative and whether or not under bankruptcy law, in a
    foreign country in which the debtor's domicile, residence,
    principal place of business, or principal assets were located at
    the commencement of such proceeding, for the purpose of
    liquidating an estate, adjusting debts by composition, extension,
    or discharge, or effecting a reorganization;
  • (24) ''foreign representative'' means duly selected trustee,
    administrator, or other representative of an estate in a foreign
    proceeding;
  • (25) ''forward contract'' means a contract (other than a
    commodity contract) for the purchase, sale, or transfer of a
    commodity, as defined in section (8) of this title, or any
    similar good, article, service, right, or interest which is
    presently or in the future becomes the subject of dealing in the
    forward contract trade, or product or byproduct thereof, with a
    maturity date more than two days after the date the contract is
    entered into, including, but not limited to, a repurchase
    transaction, reverse repurchase transaction, consignment, lease,
    swap, hedge transaction, deposit, loan, option, allocated
    transaction, unallocated transaction, or any combination thereof
    or option thereon;
  • (26) ''forward contract merchant'' means a person whose
    business consists in whole or in part of entering into forward
    contracts as or with merchants in a commodity, as defined in
    section (8) of this title, or any similar good, article,
    service, right, or interest which is presently or in the future
    becomes the subject of dealing in the forward contract trade;
  • (27) ''governmental unit'' means United States; State;
    Commonwealth; District; Territory; municipality; foreign state;
    department, agency, or instrumentality of the United States (but
    not a United States trustee while serving as a trustee in a case
    under this title), a State, a Commonwealth, a District, a
    Territory, a municipality, or a foreign state; or other foreign
    or domestic government;
  • (28) ''indenture'' means mortgage, deed of trust, or indenture,
    under which there is outstanding a security, other than a
    voting-trust certificate, constituting a claim against the
    debtor, a claim secured by a lien on any of the debtor's
    property, or an equity security of the debtor;
  • (29) ''indenture trustee'' means trustee under an indenture;
  • (30) ''individual with regular income'' means individual whose
    income is sufficiently stable and regular to enable such
    individual to make payments under a plan under chapter  of this
    title, other than a stockbroker or a commodity broker;
  • (31) ''insider'' includes -
    • (A) if the debtor is an individual -
      • (i) relative of the debtor or of a general partner of the
        debtor;
      • (ii) partnership in which the debtor is a general partner;
      • (iii) general partner of the debtor; or
      • (iv) corporation of which the debtor is a director,
        officer, or person in control;
    • (B) if the debtor is a corporation -
      • (i) director of the debtor;
      • (ii) officer of the debtor;
      • (iii) person in control of the debtor;
      • (iv) partnership in which the debtor is a general partner;
      • (v) general partner of the debtor; or
      • (vi) relative of a general partner, director, officer, or
        person in control of the debtor;
    • (C) if the debtor is a partnership -
      • (i) general partner in the debtor;
      • (ii) relative of a general partner in, general partner of,
        or person in control of the debtor;
      • (iii) partnership in which the debtor is a general partner;
      • (iv) general partner of the debtor; or
      • (v) person in control of the debtor;
    • (D) if the debtor is a municipality, elected official of the
      debtor or relative of an elected official of the debtor;
    • (E) affiliate, or insider of an affiliate as if such
      affiliate were the debtor; and
      (F) managing agent of the debtor;
  • (32) ''insolvent'' means -
    • (A) with reference to an entity other than a partnership and
      a municipality, financial condition such that the sum of such
      entity's debts is greater than all of such entity's property,
      at a fair valuation, exclusive of -
      • (i) property transferred, concealed, or removed with intent
        to hinder, delay, or defraud such entity's creditors; and
        (ii) property that may be exempted from property of the
        estate under section  of this title;
    • (B) with reference to a partnership, financial condition such
      that the sum of such partnership's debts is greater than the
      aggregate of, at a fair valuation -
      • (i) all of such partnership's property, exclusive of
        property of the kind specified in subparagraph (A)(i) of this
        paragraph; and
        (ii) the sum of the excess of the value of each general
        partner's nonpartnership property, exclusive of property of
        the kind specified in subparagraph (A) of this paragraph,
        over such partner's nonpartnership debts; and
        (C) with reference to a municipality, financial condition
        such that the municipality is -
      • (i) generally not paying its debts as they become due
        unless such debts are the subject of a bona fide dispute; or
      • (ii) unable to pay its debts as they become due;
  • (33) ''institution-affiliated party'' -
    • (A) with respect to an insured depository institution (as
      defined in section 3(c)(2) of the Federal Deposit Insurance
      Act), has the meaning given it in section 3(u) of the Federal
      Deposit Insurance Act; and
      (B) with respect to an insured credit union, has the meaning
      given it in section 206(r) of the Federal Credit Union Act;
  • (34) ''insured credit union'' has the meaning given it in
    section 101(7) of the Federal Credit Union Act;
  • (35) ''insured depository institution'' -
    • (A) has the meaning given it in section 3(c)(2) of the
      Federal Deposit Insurance Act; and
      (B) includes an insured credit union (except in the case of
      paragraphs (21B) and (33)(A) of this subsection);
  • (35A) ''intellectual property'' means -
    • (A) trade secret;
    • (B) invention, process, design, or plant protected under
      title 35;
    • (C) patent application;
    • (D) plant variety;
    • (E) work of authorship protected under title 17; or
    • (F) mask work protected under chapter  of title 17;
      to the extent protected by applicable nonbankruptcy law; and
      (36) ''judicial lien'' means lien obtained by judgment, levy,
      sequestration, or other legal or equitable process or proceeding;
  • (37) ''lien'' means charge against or interest in property to
    secure payment of a debt or performance of an obligation;
  • (38) ''margin payment'' means, for purposes of the forward
    contract provisions of this title, payment or deposit of cash, a
    security or other property, that is commonly known in the forward
    contract trade as original margin, initial margin, maintenance
    margin, or variation margin, including mark-to-market payments,
    or variation payments; and 
  • (39) ''mask work'' has the meaning given it in section
    901(a)(2) of title 17.
  • (40) ''municipality'' means political subdivision or public
    agency or instrumentality of a State;
  • (41) ''person'' includes individual, partnership, and
    corporation, but does not include governmental unit, except that
    a governmental unit that -
    • (A) acquires an asset from a person -
      • (i) as a result of the operation of a loan guarantee
        agreement; or
      • (ii) as receiver or liquidating agent of a person;
    • (B) is a guarantor of a pension benefit payable by or on
      behalf of the debtor or an affiliate of the debtor; or
    • (C) is the legal or beneficial owner of an asset of -
      • (i) an employee pension benefit plan that is a governmental
        plan, as defined in section 414(d) of the Internal Revenue
        Code of 1986; or
      • (ii) an eligible deferred compensation plan, as defined in
        section 457(b) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986;
        shall be considered, for purposes of section  of this title,
        to be a person with respect to such asset or such benefit;
  • (42) ''petition'' means petition filed under section , ,
    303, or 304 of this title, as the case may be, commencing a case
    under this title;
  • (42A) ''production payment'' means a term overriding royalty
    satisfiable in cash or in kind -
    • (A) contingent on the production of a liquid or gaseous
      hydrocarbon from particular real property; and
      (B) from a specified volume, or a specified value, from the
      liquid or gaseous hydrocarbon produced from such property, and
      determined without regard to production costs;
  • (43) ''purchaser'' means transferee of a voluntary transfer,
    and includes immediate or mediate transferee of such a
    transferee;
  • (44) ''railroad'' means common carrier by railroad engaged in
    the transportation of individuals or property or owner of
    trackage facilities leased by such a common carrier;
  • (45) ''relative'' means individual related by affinity or
    consanguinity within the third degree as determined by the common
    law, or individual in a step or adoptive relationship within such
    third degree;
  • (46) ''repo participant'' means an entity that, on any day
    during the period beginning 90 days before the date of the filing
    of the petition, has an outstanding repurchase agreement with the
    debtor;
  • (47) ''repurchase agreement'' (which definition also applies to
    a reverse repurchase agreement) means an agreement, including
    related terms, which provides for the transfer of certificates of
    deposit, eligible bankers' acceptances, or securities that are
    direct obligations of, or that are fully guaranteed as to
    principal and interest by, the United States or any agency of the
    United States against the transfer of funds by the transferee of
    such certificates of deposit, eligible bankers' acceptances, or
    securities with a simultaneous agreement by such transferee to
    transfer to the transferor thereof certificates of deposit,
    eligible bankers' acceptances, or securities as described above,
    at a date certain not later than one year after such transfers or
    on demand, against the transfer of funds;
  • (48) ''securities clearing agency'' means person that is
    registered as a clearing agency under section 17A of the
    Securities Exchange Act of 1934 or whose business is confined to
    the performance of functions of a clearing agency with respect to
    exempted securities, as defined in section 3(a)(12) of such Act
    for the purposes of such section ;
  • (49) ''security'' -
    • (A) includes -
      • (i) note;
      • (ii) stock;
      • (iii) treasury stock;
      • (iv) bond;
      • (v) debenture;
      • (vi) collateral trust certificate;
      • (vii) pre-organization certificate or subscription;
      • (viii) transferable share;
      • (ix) voting-trust certificate;
      • (x) certificate of deposit;
      • (xi) certificate of deposit for security;
      • (xii) investment contract or certificate of interest or
        participation in a profit-sharing agreement or in an oil,
        gas, or mineral royalty or lease, if such contract or
        interest is required to be the subject of a registration
        statement filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission
        under the provisions of the Securities Act of 1933, or is
        exempt under section 3(b) of such Act from the requirement to
        file such a statement;
      • (xiii) interest of a limited partner in a limited
        partnership;
      • (xiv) other claim or interest commonly known as
        ''security''; and
        (xv) certificate of interest or participation in, temporary
        or interim certificate for, receipt for, or warrant or right
        to subscribe to or purchase or sell, a security; but
    • (B) does not include -
      • (i) currency, check, draft, bill of exchange, or bank
        letter of credit;
      • (ii) leverage transaction, as defined in section 761 of
        this title;
      • (iii) commodity futures contract or forward contract;
      • (iv) option, warrant, or right to subscribe to or purchase
        or sell a commodity futures contract;
      • (v) option to purchase or sell a commodity;
      • (vi) contract or certificate of a kind specified in
        subparagraph (A)(xii) of this paragraph that is not required
        to be the subject of a registration statement filed with the
        Securities and Exchange Commission and is not exempt under
        section 3(b) of the Securities Act of 1933 from the
        requirement to file such a statement; or
      • (vii) debt or evidence of indebtedness for goods sold and
        delivered or services rendered;
  • (50) ''security agreement'' means agreement that creates or
    provides for a security interest;
  • (51) ''security interest'' means lien created by an agreement;
  • (51A) ''settlement payment'' means, for purposes of the forward
    contract provisions of this title, a preliminary settlement
    payment, a partial settlement payment, an interim settlement
    payment, a settlement payment on account, a final settlement
    payment, a net settlement payment, or any other similar payment
    commonly used in the forward contract trade;
  • (51B) ''single asset real estate'' means real property
    constituting a single property or project, other than residential
    real property with fewer than 4 residential units, which
    generates substantially all of the gross income of a debtor and
    on which no substantial business is being conducted by a debtor
    other than the business of operating the real property and
    activities incidental thereto having aggregate noncontingent,
    liquidated secured debts in an amount no more than $4,000,000;
  • (51C) ''small business'' means a person engaged in commercial
    or business activities (but does not include a person whose
    primary activity is the business of owning or operating real
    property and activities incidental thereto) whose aggregate
    noncontingent liquidated secured and unsecured debts as of the
    date of the petition do not exceed $2,000,000;
  • (52) ''State'' includes the District of Columbia and Puerto
    Rico, except for the purpose of defining who may be a debtor
    under chapter  of this title;
  • (53) ''statutory lien'' means lien arising solely by force of a
    statute on specified circumstances or conditions, or lien of
    distress for rent, whether or not statutory, but does not include
    security interest or judicial lien, whether or not such interest
    or lien is provided by or is dependent on a statute and whether
    or not such interest or lien is made fully effective by statute;
  • (53A) ''stockbroker'' means person -
    • (A) with respect to which there is a customer, as defined in
      section of this title; and
      (B) that is engaged in the business of effecting transactions
      in securities -
      • (i) for the account of others; or
      • (ii) with members of the general public, from or for such
        person's own account;
  • (53B) ''swap agreement'' means -
    • (A) an agreement (including terms and conditions incorporated
      by reference therein) which is a rate swap agreement, basis
      swap, forward rate agreement, commodity swap, interest rate
      option, forward foreign exchange agreement, spot foreign
      exchange agreement, rate cap agreement, rate floor agreement,
      rate collar agreement, currency swap agreement, cross-currency
      rate swap agreement, currency option, any other similar
      agreement (including any option to enter into any of the
      foregoing);
    • (B) any combination of the foregoing; or
    • (C) a master agreement for any of the foregoing together with
      all supplements;
  • (53C) ''swap participant'' means an entity that, at any time
    before the filing of the petition, has an outstanding swap
    agreement with the debtor;
  • (56A)  ''term overriding royalty'' means an
    interest in liquid or gaseous hydrocarbons in place or to be
    produced from particular real property that entitles the owner
    thereof to a share of production, or the value thereof, for a
    term limited by time, quantity, or value realized;
     So in original.
  • (53D) ''timeshare plan'' means and shall include that interest
    purchased in any arrangement, plan, scheme, or similar device,
    but not including exchange programs, whether by membership,
    agreement, tenancy in common, sale, lease, deed, rental
    agreement, license, right to use agreement, or by any other
    means, whereby a purchaser, in exchange for consideration,
    receives a right to use accommodations, facilities, or
    recreational sites, whether improved or unimproved, for a
    specific period of time less than a full year during any given
    year, but not necessarily for consecutive years, and which
    extends for a period of more than three years. A ''timeshare
    interest'' is that interest purchased in a timeshare plan which
    grants the purchaser the right to use and occupy accommodations,
    facilities, or recreational sites, whether improved or
    unimproved, pursuant to a timeshare plan;
  • (54) ''transfer'' means every mode, direct or indirect,
    absolute or conditional, voluntary or involuntary, of disposing
    of or parting with property or with an interest in property,
    including retention of title as a security interest and
    foreclosure of the debtor's equity of redemption;
  • (55) ''United States'', when used in a geographical sense,
    includes all locations where the judicial jurisdiction of the
    United States extends, including territories and possessions of
    the United States;