What collection actions against a debtor are halted when a bankruptcy petition is filed?
The filing of a bankruptcy petition operates as an automatic stay under 11 U.S.C. § 362(a), halting the commencement or continuation of most actions and collection efforts against the debtor.
The answer
The stay arises by operation of law
11 U.S.C. § 362(a) provides that the filing of a petition operates as a stay, applicable to all entities, of the commencement or continuation of judicial, administrative, or other actions against the debtor that were or could have been commenced before the case, and of any act to collect, assess, or recover a claim against the debtor that arose before the petition. No motion or court order is required; the stay takes effect the moment the petition is filed.
It reaches acts against estate property
The stay also bars any act to obtain possession of, or to exercise control over, property of the estate, and any act to create, perfect, or enforce a lien against property of the estate. The breadth is deliberate, giving the debtor a breathing spell and preserving the estate for orderly administration.
The judged input
What the AI drafted
Submitted to the judgeThis is an excerpt from a draft automatic-stay advisory memo — the kind of work product a lawyer generates with a legal-AI drafting tool, then has to stand behind. Kingsfield does not write it; it rules on the citations the model put in it. This draft cites two authorities; one of them is wrong.
The judge ruled on every citation as the draft used it — it accepted 11 U.S.C. § 362(a) and rejected 11 U.S.C. § 363. Here is why.
The verdict
How Kingsfield ruled
Ruled 2026-06-23Each citation in the draft above was submitted to the Kingsfield judge and ruled against the primary-law corpus — Accept, Reject, or Inconclusive, per citation. These are live verdicts, not editorial. Each card shows the claim the draft made and the verbatim authority the verdict was rendered against.
The draft claimed: The filing of a bankruptcy petition operates as a stay, applicable to all entities, of the commencement or continuation of judicial or other proceedings against the debtor that arose before the case, and of any act to collect, assess, or recover a prepetition claim against the debtor.
“§ 362(a) Except as provided in subsection (b) of this section, a petition filed under section 301, 302, or 303 of this title, or an application filed under section 5(a)(3) of the Securities Investor Protection Act of 1970, operates as a stay, applicable to all entities, of—”
Cite found; proposition supported by the cited text.
The draft claimed: Section 363 imposes the automatic stay that halts the commencement or continuation of collection actions against the debtor upon the filing of a bankruptcy petition.
Cite found, but the cited text does not support the claim. 11 U.S.C. 363 governs the trustee's use, sale, or lease of property of the estate; the automatic stay that halts collection actions is imposed by 11 U.S.C. 362(a). Regenerate with the correct authority.
Run your own work through the judge
Kingsfield rules on every citation, quote, and proposition your AI produces, against the primary law we cover. Accept, Reject, or Inconclusive, per citation, with a signed Audit Capsule.
Connect the Judge See the architectureThis page is legal information, not legal advice, and does not create an attorney-client relationship. The draft shown is an illustration of a typical AI answer; verdicts reflect the cited authority in the Kingsfield corpus as of the ruling date shown above.