Glossary

Statement of Intention

Written by JaredLast reviewed 2026-08-25

What is a statement of intention?

A statement of intention is the document an individual Chapter 7 debtor files to tell the court, the trustee, and every secured creditor what will happen to each piece of property that secures a debt. Under 11 U.S.C. § 521(a)(2)(A), if the debtor's schedule of assets and liabilities lists debt secured by property of the estate, the statement must specify the retention or surrender of that property and, if applicable, that the property is claimed as exempt, that the debtor intends to redeem it, or that the debtor intends to reaffirm the debt secured by it. Those three specifications are what § 521(a)(2)(A) itself names. The fuller menu debtors actually work from on Official Form 108 — surrender, retain and redeem under § 722, retain and reaffirm under § 524(c), or retain and assume an unexpired lease under § 365(p) — traces to § 362(h)(1)(A), which is where the § 365(p) lease-assumption option appears in the Code. Section 521(a)(2)(A) does not mention § 365(p).

For a financed car, the statement is only the first step. It states a plan; a second, separate provision then requires the debtor to actually carry that plan out within a fixed number of days.

What deadline applies to filing it?

Within 30 days after the petition is filed, or on or before the date of the 341 meeting of creditors, whichever comes first. That's the statute's own language: § 521(a)(2)(A) sets the deadline as "within thirty days after the date of the filing of a petition under chapter 7 of this title or on or before the date of the meeting of creditors, whichever is earlier." Because Federal Rule of Bankruptcy Procedure 2003(a) requires the 341 meeting in a Chapter 7 case to be held no fewer than 21 and no more than 40 days after the order for relief, the two dates often land close together — and in some cases the meeting date arrives first and becomes the operative deadline instead of the 30-day mark.

A related, more general deadline sits in § 521(a)(2)(B): once the statement is filed, the debtor has 30 days after the first date set for the 341 meeting to actually perform the intention stated for secured property generally. The court can extend either § 521(a)(2) deadline "for cause" if the debtor asks before it expires.

What is the 45-day rule for a financed car?

Personal property securing a purchase-money claim — the standard example is a financed vehicle — runs on a different, more specific clock. Under 11 U.S.C. § 521(a)(6), the debtor may not retain such property unless, not later than 45 days after the first § 341(a) meeting of creditors, the debtor either signs a reaffirmation agreement under § 524(c) or redeems the property in a lump sum under § 722. Naming an intention in the statement isn't enough on its own; the debtor has to follow through within that 45-day window.

What happens if the deadlines are missed?

For a financed vehicle specifically, missing the 45-day window in § 521(a)(6) triggers the unnumbered concluding paragraph at the end of § 521(a): the automatic stay under § 362(a) terminates as to that property, the property stops being part of the bankruptcy estate, and the creditor may act under whatever nonbankruptcy law otherwise applies — typically repossession under state law.

A separate provision, § 362(h)(1), produces a similar stay termination for personal property, but it's keyed to a different clock: the "applicable time set by section 521(a)(2)," meaning the filing and general-performance deadlines, not the 45-day rule. One exception is written into § 362(h)(1)(B): if the debtor's statement specified an intent to reaffirm on the original contract terms and the creditor refused to agree to those terms, that refusal excuses the debtor's failure to act for purposes of § 362(h). The concluding paragraph of § 521(a) — the provision that actually carries the 45-day consequence for a financed car — has no matching carve-out in its text.

Before either deadline runs, a trustee can ask the court to keep the property in the estate anyway, by showing it has consequential value or benefit — under § 521(a)'s concluding paragraph for the 45-day rule, and under § 362(h)(2) for the § 521(a)(2) deadlines. That motion rarely helps with an ordinary financed car, since a vehicle still carrying a purchase-money loan typically has little value left over once the balance is subtracted.

How does the statement of intention differ from reaffirmation or redemption?

The statement of intention is a disclosure — it names a choice. Reaffirmation and redemption are the two ways of actually keeping financed property under § 521(a)(6), and each has its own separate statutory requirements beyond simply being named in the statement. A reaffirmation agreement under § 524(c) must still be made before discharge and filed with the court; a redemption under § 722 must still be paid to the lienholder in full, in one lump sum, at the time of redemption. Naming either one in the statement of intention doesn't complete it — the 45-day clock in § 521(a)(6) is what forces the debtor to actually finish the transaction.

This is general information about how the statement-of-intention requirement and the 45-day rule work under the statute; it is not legal advice for a specific case. For the fuller walk-through of the timeline, the deadlines, and the exceptions, see the statement of intention and the 45-day rule. For the broader Chapter 7 timeline a financed car moves through, see the Chapter 7 car loan pillar page.