Section 303 of the Bankruptcy Code provides creditors with a mechanism to force a recalcitrant debtor into bankruptcy through the filing of an involuntary petition for relief. Pursuant to this section, an involuntary bankruptcy case may be commenced only under Chapter 7 or 11 of the Bankruptcy Code, and may only be brought against a person otherwise qualified to file a voluntary petition. Where the purported debtor has fewer than 12 creditors, the involuntary petition need only be filed by a single creditor. However, where the purported debtor has 12 or more creditors, the involuntary petition must be filed by at least three creditors.
In certain situations, more than one creditor may attempt to file an involuntary petition on account of a single obligation. For example, several parties may hold a shared judgment against a single debtor, or may be joint beneficiaries under a promissory note. In these circumstances, the Bankruptcy Code does not address the question of whether such creditors constitute one or more petitioning creditors for purposes of Section 303(b)(1)’s numerosity requirement.
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