Bankruptcy does not clear most court fines and tickets. Criminal fines and restitution survive every bankruptcy filing, and traffic tickets, parking tickets, and other civil penalties owed to the government survive a Chapter 7 discharge. Chapter 13 is the one exception worth knowing about: after you finish a multi-year repayment plan, some civil government fines that Chapter 7 could never touch can actually be wiped out. Which fines fall on which side of the line depends on whether they are criminal or civil, whether they punish you or reimburse an actual cost, and which chapter you file.
Criminal Fines and Restitution Always Survive
If a court imposed a fine or restitution order as part of a criminal sentence, bankruptcy will not erase it. Two separate provisions of the Bankruptcy Code lock this in. Chapter 7’s general exceptions to discharge cover fines and penalties payable to the government that are not compensation for an actual financial loss.1Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 11 USC 523 – Exceptions to Discharge Chapter 13’s own discharge provision separately blocks the elimination of “restitution, or a criminal fine, included in a sentence on the debtor’s conviction of a crime.”2Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 11 USC 1328 – Discharge
The Supreme Court confirmed this in Kelly v. Robinson, holding that restitution ordered as part of a state criminal sentence is not dischargeable in bankruptcy.3Justia. Kelly v Robinson, 479 US 36 (1986) The rule reaches broadly. It covers fines from misdemeanor and felony convictions, victim restitution, court surcharges tied to a criminal case, and the related court costs that come with the judgment. Both the principal and the add-ons carry forward.
Civil Government Fines: Punishment vs. Reimbursement
Civil fines imposed by a government agency are more complicated. The deciding question is whether the fine exists to punish you or to pay the government back for money it actually spent. Under Chapter 7’s discharge exceptions, a fine or penalty payable to a government entity is non-dischargeable only if it is not compensation for an actual financial loss.1Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 11 USC 523 – Exceptions to Discharge
A regulatory fine for violating environmental, safety, or business rules is almost always treated as punitive. The agency didn’t lose that specific amount of money. It imposed the penalty to deter the conduct. That makes the fine non-dischargeable in Chapter 7. By contrast, if an agency charges you to cover the actual cost of cleaning up contamination you caused, that charge reimburses a real expense and may be dischargeable.
Labels don’t settle the question. Courts look at the purpose behind the obligation. A “fee” called administrative can still be punitive if it exceeds what the government actually spent, and a “penalty” tied dollar-for-dollar to agency costs can be compensatory.
How Chapter 7 Treats Court Fines
Chapter 7 liquidates eligible assets and discharges most remaining unsecured debt. Court fines are where its power ends. Criminal fines, traffic tickets, regulatory penalties, and virtually all other fines payable to a government entity survive Chapter 7.1Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 11 USC 523 – Exceptions to Discharge
The automatic stay that pauses most collection activity when you file also has sharp limits here. It does not stop any criminal case or sentencing from moving forward, and it does not block a government agency acting under its police or regulatory authority.4Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 11 US Code 362 – Automatic Stay Filing Chapter 7 does not buy time on criminal obligations.
What Chapter 7 can do indirectly is clear out credit cards, medical bills, and personal loans so that whatever income you have is freer to go toward the fines that survive.
Chapter 13’s Broader Discharge
Chapter 13 involves a three-to-five-year plan where you make monthly payments to a trustee who distributes funds to creditors.5United States Courts. Chapter 13 – Bankruptcy Basics Criminal fines still survive, because Section 1328 blocks them separately.2Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 11 USC 1328 – Discharge
Here is what most people miss. The list of Chapter 13 discharge exceptions is narrower than Chapter 7’s list. The general exception for punitive government fines, the one that keeps regulatory penalties and civil fines alive in Chapter 7, is not written into Chapter 13’s discharge exceptions.2Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 11 USC 1328 – Discharge If you complete every payment under a confirmed Chapter 13 plan, certain civil government fines that would survive Chapter 7 can be eliminated. Lawyers sometimes call this the Chapter 13 superdischarge.
What that means in practice:
- Still non-dischargeable in Chapter 13: criminal fines, criminal restitution, debts from intoxicated driving that caused injury or death, fraud-related debts, and domestic support obligations.
- Potentially dischargeable in Chapter 13: punitive civil fines owed to government agencies, such as regulatory penalties, that Chapter 7 cannot touch.
The trade-off is years of structured payments. For someone carrying significant civil regulatory fines alongside other debts, that can be worth it.
Traffic Tickets and Parking Tickets
Traffic and parking tickets are among the most common fines people hope bankruptcy will clear. Both are typically classified as government penalties rather than compensation for a financial loss, which makes them non-dischargeable in Chapter 7.1Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 11 USC 523 – Exceptions to Discharge The late fees, administrative surcharges, and court costs stacked on top usually get the same treatment.
The Chapter 13 superdischarge could reach civil traffic and parking fines, because they sit in the government penalty category that Chapter 13 does not carry forward. Whether a particular ticket counts as civil depends on how the issuing jurisdiction classifies it. A moving violation prosecuted as a criminal infraction falls under the criminal fine rule and survives. A civil parking ticket from a municipality is different ground. Courts look at the actual nature of the obligation rather than the label.
Even where the fine itself cannot be discharged, folding it into a Chapter 13 plan lets you pay in structured installments instead of facing collection from several municipalities at once.
Debts From Intoxicated Driving
Drunk or drugged driving produces financial obligations that bankruptcy treats with particular severity. Any debt for death or personal injury caused by operating a motor vehicle, boat, or aircraft while intoxicated is non-dischargeable.1Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 11 USC 523 – Exceptions to Discharge This covers civil judgments from personal injury lawsuits, not just criminal fines. If a victim sues you separately from the criminal case, that judgment survives too.
The same exception appears in Chapter 13’s discharge limits, so it survives both chapters.2Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 11 USC 1328 – Discharge Property damage caused while intoxicated gets slightly different treatment and may be dischargeable unless the injured party proves the damage was willful and malicious. For bodily injury or death, the non-dischargeability is automatic. The debt simply survives.
Tax Penalties
Tax penalties sit in their own corner. The general rule for government fines carves them out, and tax penalties tied to a transaction or event more than three years before the bankruptcy filing, or related to certain specified tax types, may actually be dischargeable.1Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 11 USC 523 – Exceptions to Discharge
The exception to the exception is tax fraud. If you willfully tried to evade taxes, the debt survives bankruptcy regardless of timing. Honest mistakes and negligence don’t trigger the bar, but deliberate underreporting, hiding income, or filing false returns will keep the entire tax debt alive.
Professional Licensing Fines
Fines from state bars, medical boards, real estate commissions, and other professional licensing bodies follow the same framework as other government penalties. Courts have treated disciplinary costs imposed by a licensing board as punitive rather than compensatory, which makes them non-dischargeable in Chapter 7.1Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 11 USC 523 – Exceptions to Discharge The board’s role is to protect the public, so its fines serve a punitive and rehabilitative purpose rather than reimbursing a specific cost.
A practical consequence worth knowing: if a licensing fine cannot be discharged and you don’t pay it, the board can suspend your license. Federal law stops a government entity from denying a license solely because someone filed for bankruptcy or failed to pay a dischargeable debt. When the underlying debt is non-dischargeable, that shield doesn’t apply.
Because professional licensing fines fall under the government penalty exception that Chapter 13 doesn’t incorporate into its discharge limits, the superdischarge could reach them in the right case. Whether it works turns on how the specific fine is classified.
Fines Owed to Private Parties
Not every fine comes from a government. Homeowner association fines, condo association penalties, and private contractual penalties are not owed to a governmental unit, and the non-dischargeability rule for punitive fines applies only to debts payable to the government. HOA fines that accrued before you filed are typically discharged in Chapter 7 along with other unsecured debts. Fines that accrue after the filing date are your responsibility and are not covered by the discharge.
What Happens When a Fine Survives
When a court fine makes it through bankruptcy intact, the issuing authority keeps every collection tool it had before. For criminal fines, the consequences of non-payment can be serious. A court that originally suspended jail time in favor of a fine can revoke that arrangement. Probation can be revoked for failure to pay restitution. Driver’s licenses and professional licenses can be suspended. Wage garnishment can resume or begin.
The bankruptcy discharge ends your personal liability on dischargeable debts and bars creditors from collecting them. For non-dischargeable fines, that bar never applies. The government can garnish wages, intercept tax refunds, and pursue other collection just as it could before you filed. The clock does not reset. The balance does not shrink.
If you are carrying significant court fines alongside consumer debt, Chapter 13 may offer more practical relief than Chapter 7. Criminal fines survive either chapter, but Chapter 13 lets you fold payments into a structured plan while potentially discharging civil government penalties that Chapter 7 cannot touch. The right choice depends on the mix of fines you owe, whether they are criminal or civil, and whether a multi-year repayment plan fits your situation.