If you receive an inheritance after a Chapter 7 discharge, the bankruptcy trustee might be able to take it to pay your creditors. Find your Chapter 7 inheritance answers here.
By Cara O'Neill, Attorney University of the Pacific McGeorge School of Law
Updated 5/21/2024
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If you become entitled to receive an inheritance before filing for Chapter 7 bankruptcy, you'll have to "exempt" or protect it with a bankruptcy exemption to keep it. Additionally, unlike most other properties, a trustee can take an inheritance up to 180 days after you file. Learn why.
- Keeping Your Inheritance in Chapter 7
- Why Does the 180-Day Rule Exist?
Keeping Your Inheritance in Chapter 7
In Chapter 7 bankruptcy, you can keep the things you'll need to maintain your employment and a modest home, but not much more. Here's how it works.
Almost all of your assets become a part of the bankruptcy estate the moment you file for Chapter 7 bankruptcy. The bankruptcy trustee sells assets you can't protect with a bankruptcy exemption or "nonexempt assets" and distributes the funds to your creditors.
In most cases, you wouldn't need to worry about property or funds you acquired after filing for bankruptcy—they'd be yours. However, a special bankruptcy rule extends the date for inheritances. If you become entitled to an inheritance within 180 days of filing for bankruptcy, it will become part of the estate. To keep it, you'll have to exempt it.
The entitlement date is the date the person passed away. Not the day you actually collect the inheritance, which could be months later.
Why Does the 180-Day Rule Exist?
Congress created the 180-day rule to discourage people from filing for bankruptcy in anticipation of receiving a significant inheritance. The idea is that people shouldn't file for bankruptcy just to protect an inheritance.
Here's how the rule could affect your inheritance depending on the date you become entitled to it.
- Before filing for bankruptcy. As with any other property, you'll need an exemption to cover the inherited money or property. Otherwise, you would lose it.
- More than 180 days after the filing date. In this case, the property won't be considered part of the bankruptcy estate. The trustee won't have a claim. You can keep it whether it would have been exempt or not.
- Within 180 days of the bankruptcy filing. The inherited assets will be part of your bankruptcy estate. You must amend your bankruptcy paperwork even if the court has closed your case. You'll be able to keep your inheritance if you can exempt it. Otherwise, the trustee will take the nonexempt portion to pay your creditors.
Example. Makayla filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy on January 1, 2024. The case closed on May 1, 2024. Nine days later, her uncle died and left her $100,000 that she can't protect with an exemption. Since Makayla became entitled to the inheritance on May 10, 2024—less than 180 days after her filing date—the $100,000 is part of the bankruptcy estate. The trustee will pay her creditors and return any remaining portion to her after deducting the trustee commission.
Further Reading
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