Bankruptcy is a federal court procedure designed to help both individuals and businesses address debts they cannot fully repay as well as help creditors receive some payment in an equitable manner. Individuals usually file for bankruptcy under one of two chapters of the Bankruptcy Code. Under Chapter 7, the filer’s eligible nonexempt assets are reduced to cash and distributed to creditors in accordance with distribution priorities and procedures set out in the Bankruptcy Code. Under Chapter 13, filers submit a repayment plan to the court agreeing to pay part or all of their debts over time, usually 3 to 5 years. Upon the successful completion of both Chapter 7 and 13 cases, the filer’s personal liability for eligible debts is discharged at the end of the bankruptcy process, which means that creditors may take no further action against the individual to collect the debt. Child support is not a debt eligible for discharge. The Bankruptcy Reform Act, among other things, amended the Bankruptcy Code to require those filers with the ability to pay some of their debts to enter into repayment plans under Chapter 13 of the Bankruptcy Code instead of liquidating their assets under Chapter 7 and granting the debtor a discharge from eligible debts. During the first year of implementation under the Bankruptcy Reform Act, about 628,537 individuals filed for bankruptcy, based on the Administrative Office bankruptcy data we used for our national data match. The bankruptcy system is complex and involves many entities in the judicial and executive branches of the federal government. (See fig. 1.) Within the judicial branch, 90 federal bankruptcy courts have jurisdiction over bankruptcy cases. The Administrative Office is the central support entity for federal courts, including bankruptcy courts, providing a wide range of administrative, legal, financial, management, and information technology services. It also maintains the U.S. Party/Case Index, which contains information collected from all 90 federal bankruptcy courts and allows courts to identify parties involved in federal litigation almost anywhere in the nation. The Director of the Administrative Office is supervised by the Judicial Conference of the United States. The Judicial Conference also considers administrative problems and policy issues affecting the federal judiciary and makes recommendations to Congress concerning legislation affecting the federal judicial system. The bankruptcy courts share responsibility for bankruptcy cases with the United States Trustee Program, which is part of the executive branch’s U.S. Department of Justice (Justice). In all but six bankruptcy court districts in Alabama and North Carolina, the U.S. Trustee Program is responsible for appointing and supervising private bankruptcy case trustees who manage many aspects of individual bankruptcy cases. The Executive Office for U.S. Trustees at Justice provides general policy and legal guidance, oversees operations, and handles administrative functions for the U.S. Trustee Program. It also manages the Automated Case Management System, which functions as the U.S. Trustee Program’s system for administering bankruptcy cases. Separate from the U.S. Trustee Program, the remaining six districts have judicial branch bankruptcy administrators (referred to as the Bankruptcy Administrator Program) who perform duties similar to those of the U.S. Trustees, including overseeing the administration of bankruptcy cases, maintaining a panel of private case trustees, and monitoring the transactions and conduct of parties in bankruptcy in those states. The federal government partners with states to operate the child support enforcement program, making available to parents a range of child support services, including establishing and enforcing child support orders. A child support order can be entered into voluntarily, ordered by a court, or established by a state agency through an administrative process. Once established, it generally legally requires a noncustodial parent to provide financial support to a custodial parent with at least one child. Nationwide, almost 10 million noncustodial parents had child support orders in place in June 2007, based on the Federal Case Registry maintained by OCSE. This registry, part of the Federal Parent Locator Service, contains information about individuals with child support cases and orders administered by state CSE agencies as well as individuals not part of the CSE program, but who had orders established after 1998. About 78 percent of these 10 million noncustodial parents had orders enforced through state CSE agencies; the remaining parents are not involved with a state agency in enforcing their orders. The CSE program makes services available, upon request, to any parent or other person with custody of a child (custodial parent) who has a parent living outside of the home (noncustodial parent). Parents that receive public assistance through the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), Medicaid, and Foster Care programs receive CSE services free; others are charged a nominal fee not to exceed $25. TANF recipients are required to assign their rights to child support payments to the state. In fiscal year 2006, the state CSE agencies administered 15.8 million cases, providing a range of services, including establishing paternity and support orders, locating noncustodial parents, collecting and distributing child and medical support, and reviewing and modifying support orders. The majority of child support is collected through wage withholding, but state agencies also use other methods for enforcing child support orders. In 2006, about 69 percent of child support payments were collected through wage withholding, which involves employers withholding support from noncustodial parents’ wages and sending it to the appropriate state agency for distribution. Other methods include intercepting federal and state income tax refunds; liens against property; as well as withholding or suspending driver’s licenses, professional licenses, recreational and sporting licenses, and passports of persons who owe past-due support. During fiscal year 2006, total distributed collections were almost $24 billion. Program costs for that year totaled $5.6 billion, of which $3.7 billion was federally funded. State agencies administer the CSE program, but the federal government plays a major role in supporting them. At the federal level, OCSE within the Administration for Children and Families of HHS provides a majority of program funding. It also establishes enforcement policies and guidance, provides state agencies with technical assistance, and oversees and monitors state programs. The Bankruptcy Reform Act included new provisions to help better ensure that noncustodial parents who file for bankruptcy continue paying child support and that child support payments are given a high priority in bankruptcy. One of these provisions clarifies that proceedings to establish or modify a domestic support obligation (e.g., child support) owed to a governmental unit (e.g., state CSE agencies) are exempt from the automatic stay. An automatic stay bars creditors from taking measures to collect a debt pending resolution of the bankruptcy proceeding. Another provision allows for the continued operation of wage withholding for domestic support obligations (e.g., child support). Further, the Bankruptcy Reform Act, for example, requires that noncustodial parents filing for Chapter 13 bankruptcy must be current on their child support obligations to confirm a repayment plan. In addition, the Bankruptcy Reform Act provides child support with the first priority for payment of unsecured claims, up from a seventh-level priority under previous Bankruptcy Code provisions. The Bankruptcy Code requires bankruptcy filers to submit a list of their creditors, which could include a custodial parent or state CSE agency, in their financial disclosures. The court, in general, is to provide listed creditors with notice of a meeting of creditors. A filer who knowingly and fraudulently conceals a debt owed to a creditor is subject to criminal penalties. In addition, the Bankruptcy Reform Act amended the Bankruptcy Code to require that child support claimants, such as custodial parents and state agencies, be specifically notified of the bankruptcies of parents having a domestic support obligation (DSO), a designation that includes child support and alimony. Case trustees are to send notices of the bankruptcy case to these parties after bankruptcy filers report in their paperwork that they have a DSO. Figure 2 shows court and trustee notification processes based on law, regulations, and guidelines. State agencies and custodial parents benefit from knowing about the bankruptcies of parents who owe child support. The notice to the custodial parent provides information about the state agency and his or her right to use its services. Knowing about the bankruptcy of a noncustodial parent is important so that the state agency or custodial parent can participate in and be a party to pertinent bankruptcy proceedings. Knowing about the bankruptcy also helps state agencies avoid violating any automatic stay that may be in place. Although the CSE program may continue using many of its collection tools, such as wage withholding, a few of these tools are still subject to the automatic stay. According to a state official, agencies can face penalties if they collect funds using tools subject to the automatic stay. Our data match using the national bankruptcy and OCSE data found that among the 628,537 individuals who filed for bankruptcy between October 17, 2005, and October 17, 2006, the first year of implementation of the Bankruptcy Reform Act, about 7.2 percent were noncustodial parents with orders to pay child support. This population represents just one-half of 1 percent of the 9.9 million noncustodial parents who have orders to pay child support. While these proportions are small, they nevertheless represent 45,346 adults with orders to pay child support and at least as many children. About three-quarters (33,958) of bankruptcy filers with orders to pay support were receiving services from CSE programs in various states. At least half of these bankruptcy filers were past due on their payments. While data obtained for our study did not include the past due amounts owed by these parents, fiscal 2004 data reported by OCSE, the most recent available, show that of all noncustodial parents with orders who are part of the CSE program, the average total past due amount owed was about $9,400. A greater number of noncustodial parents filed for Chapter 7 than Chapter 13 bankruptcy. Nevertheless, proportionally more noncustodial parents filed for bankruptcy under Chapter 13 than did all filers (see table 1).