§3301 Definitions

Summary

Defines key words used in this part of the law. Affiliate: a person or company that owns or controls 20 percent or more of the debtor’s voting stock, or a company controlled that way, or someone whose business or assets the debtor controls, or someone who runs the debtor’s business under a lease or similar agreement. Asset: property of the debtor, except property already covered by a valid lien, property generally exempt under nonbankruptcy law, or certain whole‑ownership real estate interests held as tenancy by the entirety or as part of a community estate when the United States cannot go after it for a claim against only one owner. Claim: any right to payment, whether or not it is decided, fixed, disputed, or secured. Creditor: a person who has a claim. Insider: people with close ties to the debtor — relatives, partners, directors, officers, people in control, affiliates and their insiders, and the debtor’s managing agent; the exact list changes if the debtor is an individual, a corporation, or a partnership. Lien: a charge or interest in property to secure a debt, including security interests, judicial liens, common‑law liens, or statutory liens. Relative: someone related by blood or adoption within the third degree, a spouse, or someone so related to a spouse. Transfer: any way of giving up or dealing with an asset or an interest in an asset, direct or indirect, absolute or conditional, voluntary or involuntary, including payment, release, lease, or creating a lien. Valid lien: a lien that will hold up against a later judicial lien.