How to Open a Bank Account for a Bankruptcy Estate (Individual)

As an individual, when you declare bankruptcy, a bank account will be opened for your bankruptcy estate. This bank account will be used to manage your assets, liquidate necessary assets, pay off your debts, and dissolve your debts. Your bankruptcy trustee will be in charge of this bank account and will manage your assets for you. Once your debts have been paid off sufficiently, the bank account will be dissolved.

The bankruptcy estate account will be separate from you, with its own EIN (also known as a federal tax ID number). You will not need to open this account, the trustee will open the account. However, you may find yourself needing to open bank accounts after the bankruptcy, which could be a challenge. Your bankruptcy trustee will handle the process of managing your assets and paying off your debts, but you will need to be open and honest about the assets and debts you have, as well as handing over any bank accounts you have. Each estate will need a Tax ID number to open a bank account.


Written by Maurice Mallory