Meaning & use
bankruptcy petition
Last updated
Meaning
nouncountablelegalfinance
A formal legal request asking a court to declare a person or company unable to pay debts.
Grammar: Countable: you can say 'a bankruptcy petition' or 'two bankruptcy petitions'.
Patterns
- file a bankruptcy petition
- a bankruptcy petition against someone
- a bankruptcy petition by a creditor
The company filed a bankruptcy petition after losing its biggest customer.
A creditor can present a bankruptcy petition if a debt remains unpaid.
The court dismissed the bankruptcy petition because the paperwork was incomplete.
Word forms
| plural | bankruptcy petitions |
|---|
Common combinations
- file a bankruptcy petition
- They filed a bankruptcy petition in the local court last Friday.
- present a bankruptcy petition
- The bank presented a bankruptcy petition against the failing retailer.
- dismiss a bankruptcy petition
- The judge dismissed the bankruptcy petition for lack of evidence.
- a bankruptcy petition against a company
- Several suppliers supported the bankruptcy petition against the company.
Synonyms and how they differ
- insolvency petition
- Insolvency petition is the British term for a similar legal request and is common in UK legal writing.
Word family
- bankrupt adjective
- Legally declared unable to pay debts.
- bankruptcy noun
- The legal state of being unable to pay debts.
Commonly confused: bankruptcy petition or bankruptcy protection?
bankruptcy petition vs bankruptcy protection
Bankruptcy protection is the legal shield a court gives once a case is accepted; a bankruptcy petition is the request that starts the process.
Practice
A creditor who is owed money may ______ a bankruptcy petition against the debtor.
Choose one answer.
In legal English you 'file' a petition, meaning you officially submit it to a court. 'Fill' is a spelling confusion, and 'make' or 'do' are too general for this legal action.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “bankruptcy petition”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.