Can I Discharge Parking Tickets In Bankruptcy?
October 1, 2008
A person files for bankruptcy with the expectation that most, if not all, of their debt will be wiped clean by the bankruptcy court. One of the top questions on the minds of people considering bankruptcy concerns what will be discharged and what won’t be.
Unfortunately, fines and fees that are levied as a response to violating the law are not generally discharged. This includes parking and traffic tickets.
So, if you were hoping to get out of paying those parking tickets as a bonus while filing for bankruptcy, it’s not going to happen. While it might be possible to have a ticket discharged as a part of a hardship discharge, but given the relatively low cost of a ticket, this is highly unlikely.
Those pesky parking tickets are just one form of debt that is generally considered to be non-dischargeable. Other non-dischargeable debts include student loans, state, federal, and municipal taxes, alimony or child support payments, and fraudulent debts. Another type are debts that would normally be dischargeable that were accrued in payment of non-dischargeable debt. An example of this would be using a credit card to pay taxes or a criminal fine.
