Child Support Bankruptcy 

If you are paying child support and are considering filing for bankruptcy, you may want to know how a bankruptcy ruling will affect your child support obligations. On the other hand, if you are currently receiving child support, and the paying parent has filed for bankruptcy, you may be wondering what effect this will have on your child support payments.

Child support payments generally cannot be discharged in bankruptcy. A parent who owes child support cannot escape this duty of paying child support by filing for bankruptcy. This is considered a social & political obligation. Social and& political obligations (such as alimony, child support, taxes, and student loans) are very unlikely to be discharged in a bankruptcy.

The relationship between child support and bankruptcy is complex. If you owe debts for medical care that your child received, you will not be able to discharge those in bankruptcy. They will be considered debts "in the nature of support." 

How do you protect yourself and make sure that your divorce agreement is honored? When your ex-spouse files for bankruptcy, all efforts to collect any debts have to stop unless they fit within one of the exceptions in the bankruptcy statute. This is known as the "automatic stay."

If you are owed child support payments by someone who is filing for bankruptcy, understand that the payment may be delayed during the Chapter 13 reorganization process; however, it will not be discharged. In bankruptcy, you are required to file a schedule of assets, liabilities, exemptions, and statement of financial affairs. This can be very valuable information for a parent who is owed child support by the person filing for bankruptcy. If you are owed past-due child support by someone filing for bankruptcy, you can intervene in the bankruptcy proceedings without charge and contest the amount that is owed to you (the debt in arrears).

Under the Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act of 2005, in term of creditor priority, unpaid child support and alimony has priority over any other creditor, including including taxes owed.

A debt that is non-dischargeable means that your ex-spouse is still responsible for it. You should file a complaint in bankruptcy court to get the property settlement debt excepted from discharge. If you don't file a claim with the bankruptcy court, the debt may be wiped out and you won't be able to collect it later