There is such a thing as "involuntary bankruptcy".

Answer Applies to: Indiana
Replied: 9/29/2011

Disclaimer: The response above does not form an attorney-client relationship. This answer may or may not apply to you and should not be relied upon as legal advice. LawQA does not make any representation as to the expertise or qualifications of this attorney. This attorney may or may not be admitted to state bar of your state.

A creditor may in some circumstances file an involuntary bankruptcy against a debtor.

Answer Applies to: Texas
Replied: 9/22/2011

Disclaimer: The response above does not form an attorney-client relationship. This answer may or may not apply to you and should not be relied upon as legal advice. LawQA does not make any representation as to the expertise or qualifications of this attorney. This attorney may or may not be admitted to state bar of your state.

Creditors do have the ability under the bankruptcy code to force an individual or a business into bankruptcy by filing an involuntary petition under either Chapter 7 or Chapter 11 (NOT Chapter 13). A single creditor, however, cannot do it alone. An involuntary petition has a number of requirements, including the requirement that there be at least three petitioning creditors. Involuntary petitions are often not in the best interest of any particular creditor however (in fact they are full of traps for the unsuspecting creditor), and unless you have certain specific situations in your financial picture (such a recent transfer of a large asset) it is unlikely that the creditor will actually file an involuntary case against you.

Answer Applies to: Massachusetts
Replied: 9/21/2011

Disclaimer: The response above does not form an attorney-client relationship. This answer may or may not apply to you and should not be relied upon as legal advice. LawQA does not make any representation as to the expertise or qualifications of this attorney. This attorney may or may not be admitted to state bar of your state.

Although rare a creditor can place you in involuntary bankruptcy. You already have a legal emergency and should already have a lawyer. Regardless of what you want, listen to a lawyer as to the best options, which may or may not include bankruptcy.

Answer Applies to: Georgia
Replied: 9/21/2011

Disclaimer: The response above does not form an attorney-client relationship. This answer may or may not apply to you and should not be relied upon as legal advice. LawQA does not make any representation as to the expertise or qualifications of this attorney. This attorney may or may not be admitted to state bar of your state.

Creditors can force a debtor into an involuntary bankruptcy, but it is rare to see for small creditors. It is more likely that you see involuntary bankruptcies filed by commercial creditors. The more common approach is that the creditor will file a summons in civil court where they will add on legal fees and attempt to secure a judgment against you that they can use to collect. Their collection methods if they have a judgment will be to garnish your salary, freeze your bank accounts and get a lien placed on any real estate you may own. If the collection company is harassing you, you may have a FDCPA claim where you could win monetary damages against them in federal court rather than to file the bankruptcy.

Answer Applies to: New York
Replied: 9/21/2011

Disclaimer: The response above does not form an attorney-client relationship. This answer may or may not apply to you and should not be relied upon as legal advice. LawQA does not make any representation as to the expertise or qualifications of this attorney. This attorney may or may not be admitted to state bar of your state.

A creditor cannot make you file for bankruptcy. However, they can pursue other methods of collection against you. If they obtain a judgment against you, they may be able to collect their debt through garnishment of your wages or a levy against your bank account. Filing for bankruptcy is a way to prevent these collections efforts.

Answer Applies to: Arizona
Replied: 9/21/2011

Disclaimer: The response above does not form an attorney-client relationship. This answer may or may not apply to you and should not be relied upon as legal advice. LawQA does not make any representation as to the expertise or qualifications of this attorney. This attorney may or may not be admitted to state bar of your state.

They cannot get a court order requiring you to file bankruptcy. They can only get a judgment for the amount that you owe, which they can then attempt to collect. Two creditors acting together can file a petition for involuntary bankruptcy in the bankruptcy court.

Answer Applies to: California
Replied: 9/21/2011

Disclaimer: The response above does not form an attorney-client relationship. This answer may or may not apply to you and should not be relied upon as legal advice. LawQA does not make any representation as to the expertise or qualifications of this attorney. This attorney may or may not be admitted to state bar of your state.

A creditor cannot file an involuntary bankruptcy against an individual who they are taking to court. A creditor can get a judgment and then collect on the judgment. A judgment can be valid for up to 20 years.

Answer Applies to: California
Replied: 9/21/2011

Disclaimer: The response above does not form an attorney-client relationship. This answer may or may not apply to you and should not be relied upon as legal advice. LawQA does not make any representation as to the expertise or qualifications of this attorney. This attorney may or may not be admitted to state bar of your state.

They could file an involuntary bankruptcy to attempt to liquidate you. This is unusual and most times they will try to collect in other ways. This could force you to file merely to escape the collection efforts.

Answer Applies to: Illinois
Replied: 9/21/2011

Disclaimer: The response above does not form an attorney-client relationship. This answer may or may not apply to you and should not be relied upon as legal advice. LawQA does not make any representation as to the expertise or qualifications of this attorney. This attorney may or may not be admitted to state bar of your state.

Businesses can be forced into bankruptcy. Individuals cannot. However, if you owe a debt and do not want to file for bankruptcy protection, the creditor will take judgment and then garnish wages or assets to collect the debt.

Answer Applies to: Colorado
Replied: 9/21/2011

Disclaimer: The response above does not form an attorney-client relationship. This answer may or may not apply to you and should not be relied upon as legal advice. LawQA does not make any representation as to the expertise or qualifications of this attorney. This attorney may or may not be admitted to state bar of your state.

Creditors cannot make you file, but there is provision for them to file an involuntary bankruptcy. It is something creditors might do if you had a lot of assets that were not exempt. It is pretty unusual though. There are always options. Depending on where the debt is in the collection process, a good lawyer could do a lot to slow the creditor down, reduce their expectations and ultimately get them to settle on more favorable terms. If it is consumer debt, a lawyer can review the case for Fair Debt collection Practices Act issue or other counterclaims, etc. Finally, there are ways to make any assets you do have harder to locate, or even make them exempt from the claims of creditors. Many people have judgments against them, but never file bankruptcy because there is nothing the creditors can do. If you have nothing they can take, why file bankruptcy? At the very least having a lawyer end the harassment. Calls and letters will go to your lawyer, not you.

Answer Applies to: Minnesota
Replied: 9/21/2011

Disclaimer: The response above does not form an attorney-client relationship. This answer may or may not apply to you and should not be relied upon as legal advice. LawQA does not make any representation as to the expertise or qualifications of this attorney. This attorney may or may not be admitted to state bar of your state.

If its just a personal debt then, no, but the creditor may garish wages or freeze bank accounts.

Answer Applies to: Florida
Replied: 9/21/2011

Disclaimer: The response above does not form an attorney-client relationship. This answer may or may not apply to you and should not be relied upon as legal advice. LawQA does not make any representation as to the expertise or qualifications of this attorney. This attorney may or may not be admitted to state bar of your state.

A creditor cannot force you to file bankruptcy, but it sounds like the court is giving you a strong suggestion to file. Thus, you should get information about bankruptcy. Otherwise, pay the debt.

Answer Applies to: Colorado
Replied: 9/21/2011

Disclaimer: The response above does not form an attorney-client relationship. This answer may or may not apply to you and should not be relied upon as legal advice. LawQA does not make any representation as to the expertise or qualifications of this attorney. This attorney may or may not be admitted to state bar of your state.

A creditor cannot MAKE you file for bankruptcy. Depending on what you owe and if the debt is dischargable in bankruptcy, it might be a reasonable course of action to consider however. Unfortunately I don't know enough about your situation to give you advice.

Answer Applies to: Wisconsin
Replied: 9/21/2011

Disclaimer: The response above does not form an attorney-client relationship. This answer may or may not apply to you and should not be relied upon as legal advice. LawQA does not make any representation as to the expertise or qualifications of this attorney. This attorney may or may not be admitted to state bar of your state.

A creditor can force you into bankruptcy, known as an involuntarily case. However, that is by far the exception and not the rule. It is highly unlikely that any one creditor would file an involuntary bankruptcy case against you.

Answer Applies to: Illinois
Replied: 9/21/2011

Disclaimer: The response above does not form an attorney-client relationship. This answer may or may not apply to you and should not be relied upon as legal advice. LawQA does not make any representation as to the expertise or qualifications of this attorney. This attorney may or may not be admitted to state bar of your state.

No, a creditor cannot make you file for bankruptcy.

Answer Applies to: Washington
Replied: 9/21/2011

Disclaimer: The response above does not form an attorney-client relationship. This answer may or may not apply to you and should not be relied upon as legal advice. LawQA does not make any representation as to the expertise or qualifications of this attorney. This attorney may or may not be admitted to state bar of your state.

The court does not order you to file for bankruptcy. Somewhere there is a problem with communication. Either the creditor is BSing you, which is always a possibility, or you've misinterpreted a court order in some way. Without seeing the court paperwork or other correspondence you may have, it is difficult to tell you a lot more.

Answer Applies to: California
Replied: 9/21/2011

Disclaimer: The response above does not form an attorney-client relationship. This answer may or may not apply to you and should not be relied upon as legal advice. LawQA does not make any representation as to the expertise or qualifications of this attorney. This attorney may or may not be admitted to state bar of your state.

It is very rare but a creditor can force a bankruptcy. Most likely they are filing in a county court to get a judgement and with that, can attach wages, bank accounts and put a lien on property. They usually like to do that rather than force a bankruptcy.

Answer Applies to: Colorado
Replied: 9/21/2011

Disclaimer: The response above does not form an attorney-client relationship. This answer may or may not apply to you and should not be relied upon as legal advice. LawQA does not make any representation as to the expertise or qualifications of this attorney. This attorney may or may not be admitted to state bar of your state.