Automatic Stay
A provision of bankruptcy law which immediately stops debt collection activity of most kinds. It similar to, but not precisely the same as, a restraining order by a court commanding someone to stop doing something.
The idea of the automatic stay is to provide a debtor some peace and quiet from the constant demands of his or her creditors in order to either assist the court and its officers in the completion of the liquidation of non-exempt property (in Chapter 7) or in order to prepare, propose and (typically) carry out the terms of a reorganization plan (in Chapters 11, 12, and 13).
The idea of the automatic stay is to provide a debtor some peace and quiet from the constant demands of his or her creditors in order to either assist the court and its officers in the completion of the liquidation of non-exempt property (in Chapter 7) or in order to prepare, propose and (typically) carry out the terms of a reorganization plan (in Chapters 11, 12, and 13).
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