DUI Injury and Wrongful-Death Debts in Bankruptcy

How does the DUI discharge exception actually work?

The Bankruptcy Code lists specific categories of debt that a discharge does not wipe out. Drunk-driving injury debts are one of them. Under 11 U.S.C. § 523(a)(9), a discharge does not release an individual debtor from a debt for death or personal injury caused by the debtor's operation of a motor vehicle, vessel, or aircraft while intoxicated from using alcohol, a drug, or another substance.

This is not something a creditor has to fight for in the same way as some other exceptions. It is written into the statute as a category. Official court guidance describes the practical effect plainly: after a Chapter 7 discharge, you may still be required to pay debts arising from "death or personal injury caused by operating a motor vehicle, vessel, or aircraft while intoxicated from alcohol or drugs" (U.S. Bankr. Ct. D. Alaska, The Forms Individuals and Married Couples Need to File Bankruptcy).

So the realistic question is usually not whether bankruptcy erases the judgment. It is what bankruptcy can still do for the rest of your financial picture.

What changes the answer in your situation?

Several details matter, and they are factual questions a court decides, not things you can settle by reading a statute alone.

The statute is written around intoxication and around operating a motor vehicle, vessel, or aircraft. It is also written around death or personal injury. A claim for damage to a car or a fence is a different kind of claim than a claim for a broken back or a death, even when both come out of the same collision.

Who owes the debt matters too. A discharge addresses the personal liability of the debtor who filed. If someone else was also sued, their situation is separate.

Whether a judgment or settlement exists yet, and how it characterizes the damages, can also matter. Court instructions note that a claim can be unliquidated where the amount has not been set, and give a car accident as the example (Bankr. S.D. Iowa official guidance — Instructions - Bankruptcy Forms for Individuals).

• Whether the damages are for death or personal injury, or for property damage
• Whether the operation involved was of a motor vehicle, vessel, or aircraft
• Whether intoxication from alcohol, a drug, or another substance is established
• Whether the claim has been reduced to a judgment or is still unliquidated
• Which chapter you file, because the discharge provisions differ in structure

What does federal law say about DUI debts?

Two provisions carry most of the weight here.

The first is 11 U.S.C. § 523(a)(9). It sits inside the list of exceptions to discharge that applies to a discharge under section 727 (Chapter 7) and to several other discharge provisions. Its subject is a debt for death or personal injury caused by the debtor's operation of a motor vehicle, vessel, or aircraft while intoxicated.

The second is 11 U.S.C. § 1328(a)(2). When a Chapter 13 debtor completes all plan payments, the court grants a discharge of debts provided for by the plan, "except any debt ... of the kind specified in ... paragraph (1)(B), (1)(C), (2), (3), (4), (5), (8), or (9) of section 523(a)." Paragraph (9) is the drunk-driving provision, so it is on that excepted list.

The practical result is that this category of debt is treated consistently across both consumer chapters, which is not true of every exception in § 523(a).

Where do state or local rules come into it?

The discharge exception itself is federal and does not change from state to state. What varies around it is everything state law governs: how the underlying injury or wrongful-death claim was brought, what the judgment says, and what property a creditor could reach outside bankruptcy.

Exemptions are the clearest example of state variation, and they are set by state law within the federal framework. New York's statute, for instance, tells you directly that a debtor domiciled in the state may exempt only the categories it lists (N.Y. Debt. & Cred. Law § 282). Other states publish their own lists with their own amounts.

We publish verified exemption figures on the state pages rather than restating them here, because a number that is right in one state is wrong in the next. Local court practice also differs, and district guidance is published by each bankruptcy court.

If you want the figures that apply where you live, start from your state page and your district's court.

• The § 523(a)(9) exception is federal and uniform
• Exemption amounts are state-specific and live on the state pages
• Local rules and filing procedures are published by each bankruptcy district

What does this look like in practice?

Say a judgment has been entered against you for injuries from a crash, and you also have credit card balances, medical bills, and a car loan. Bankruptcy does not treat all of that the same way.

The DUI-related injury judgment falls into the § 523(a)(9) category, so the general expectation is that it survives. The credit card and medical debt do not fall into that category on their own, and those are the kinds of unsecured debts a discharge commonly reaches.

That asymmetry is often the whole point of the analysis. Clearing the dischargeable debt can free up income to deal with the debt that remains.

Chapter 13 is frequently explored for this reason. Court guidance describes Chapter 13 as a voluntary repayment plan for individuals with regular income, under which the discharge comes only after you complete all payments called for by your plan (U.S. Bankr. Ct. D. Ariz., Choosing Your Chapter: What can Bankruptcy do for you? What will it do to you?). A plan can be a structured way to pay something toward a surviving debt while other creditors are handled.

What documents and information are involved?

Everything you owe goes on the schedules, including debts you expect to survive and debts you dispute. Court instructions are explicit that you must list the claims of all your creditors even if the claims are contingent, unliquidated, or disputed (Bankr. S.D. Iowa official guidance — Instructions - Bankruptcy Forms for Individuals). Leaving a creditor off is its own problem: unlisted debts appear on the standard list of things you may still have to pay.

For a crash-related claim, you or your lawyer will generally want the underlying paperwork in hand before anything is filed, because the characterization of the damages is what drives the analysis.

The cost of filing is set separately from all of this. The Chapter 7 filing fee is $245 (28 U.S.C. § 1930(a)(1)(A), (f)(1)), with a $78 administrative fee (Bankruptcy Court Miscellaneous Fee Schedule, Item 8) and a $15 trustee surcharge (Bankruptcy Court Miscellaneous Fee Schedule, Item 9). The Chapter 13 filing fee is $235 (28 U.S.C. § 1930(a)(1)(B)) plus a $78 administrative fee (Bankruptcy Court Miscellaneous Fee Schedule, Item 8).

• The complaint, judgment, or settlement agreement from the injury case
• Any police or accident report and the charging documents, if there were criminal proceedings
• Correspondence from the plaintiff's attorney or a collection agency
• Records of any garnishment, levy, or lien already in place
• Insurance policy information and any payments an insurer has already made

What should you ask a lawyer about this?

This is a narrow area where the wording of your judgment can change the analysis, so it is worth arriving with specific questions rather than a general one.

Ask how the damages in your judgment are characterized, and whether any portion of them falls outside death or personal injury. Ask what happens to the debt after the case closes, and what collection can resume. Ask whether the chapter you are considering changes anything, given that § 1328(a)(2) carries the exception into a completed Chapter 13 discharge.

Ask about timing, too. If a garnishment or levy is already running, the sequence of events matters.

Court clerks cannot help with this. Guidance from the Western District of Kentucky notes that the Bankruptcy Clerk's Office is prohibited by statute from giving legal advice or assisting with the preparation of forms (Bankr. W.D. Ky. official guidance — Guide to Filing Bankruptcy without an Attorney). Arizona's court materials likewise say you should have an attorney review your decision to file and your choice of chapter.

Frequently asked questions

Can a DUI injury judgment be discharged in Chapter 7?

Generally no. 11 U.S.C. § 523(a)(9) excepts from discharge a debt for death or personal injury caused by the debtor's operation of a motor vehicle, vessel, or aircraft while intoxicated. Court guidance for individual filers lists this among the debts you may still be required to pay after a Chapter 7 discharge. Whether your specific judgment falls in that category is a question for a lawyer.

Does Chapter 13 treat DUI debts any differently?

Not on dischargeability. 11 U.S.C. § 1328(a)(2) excepts from a completed Chapter 13 discharge debts of the kind specified in paragraph (9) of section 523(a), which is the drunk-driving provision. What Chapter 13 can offer is structure: a repayment plan spreads payments over time while other, dischargeable debts are addressed, with the discharge coming after all plan payments are made.

What about a wrongful-death claim from a DUI crash?

The statute covers death as well as personal injury. 11 U.S.C. § 523(a)(9) refers to a debt for death or personal injury caused by the debtor's intoxicated operation of a motor vehicle, vessel, or aircraft. Court guidance uses the same framing, describing debts arising from death or personal injury caused by operating a motor vehicle, vessel, or aircraft while intoxicated from alcohol or drugs.

Does the property damage from the same accident also survive?

Property damage is a different kind of claim than death or personal injury, and § 523(a)(9) is written around the latter. That does not automatically make property damage dischargeable, because other exceptions in § 523(a) can apply depending on the facts. This is one of the clearest places where the wording of your judgment matters, so bring the document to a lawyer.

Should I still file if the DUI judgment will survive?

That is a decision for you and a lawyer, and it depends on the rest of your debts. Many people carry a surviving judgment alongside credit card balances, medical bills, and other unsecured debt that a discharge commonly reaches. Clearing the dischargeable portion can change what you can realistically pay toward the rest. The Roadmap can help you organize the picture first.

Does filing stop a garnishment based on a DUI judgment?

Filing generally triggers protections that halt most collection actions while the case is pending, and court guidance describes the automatic stay as stopping most collection actions against you, with limitations you should understand before filing. But a debt that survives discharge can be collected again once the case ends. Ask a lawyer what that timeline looks like in your district.

What does a discharge actually do to a judgment it covers?

Under 11 U.S.C. § 524, a discharge voids a judgment to the extent it determines the debtor's personal liability for a discharged debt, and operates as an injunction against acts to collect that debt as a personal liability. The key words are "discharged debt." A judgment for a debt excepted under § 523(a)(9) is not covered by that protection.

Sources

• 11 U.S.C. § 523 — Exceptions to discharge · official source
• 11 U.S.C. § 1328 — Discharge (Chapter 13) · official source
• 11 U.S.C. § 524 — Effect of discharge · official source
• 11 U.S.C. § 727 — Discharge (Chapter 7) · official source
• U.S. Bankr. Ct. D. Alaska, The Forms Individuals and Married Couples Need to File Bankruptcy
• Bankr. S.D. Iowa official guidance — Instructions - Bankruptcy Forms for Individuals
• U.S. Bankr. Ct. D. Ariz., Choosing Your Chapter: What can Bankruptcy do for you? What will it do to you?
• Bankr. W.D. Ky. official guidance — Guide to Filing Bankruptcy without an Attorney
• N.Y. Debt. & Cred. Law § 282 — Permissible exemptions in bankruptcy
• 28 U.S.C. § 1930(a)(1)(A), (f)(1)
• 28 U.S.C. § 1930(a)(1)(B)
• Bankruptcy Court Miscellaneous Fee Schedule, Item 8
• Bankruptcy Court Miscellaneous Fee Schedule, Item 9

Related

• Which debts get discharged
• Chapter 7
• Chapter 13
• The automatic stay
• Build your personalised roadmap
• Find your local bankruptcy court