11 U.S.C. § 348 — Effect of conversion

(a) Converting a case from one chapter to another counts as a new order for relief under the chapter the case is converted to. But except as subsections (b) and (c) provide, conversion does not change the date the petition was filed, the date the case began, or the date of the original order for relief. (b) Unless the court orders otherwise for cause, in a list of specific sections (701(a), 727(a)(10), 727(b), 1102(a), 1110(a)(1), 1121(b), 1121(c), 1141(d)(4), 1201(a), 1221, 1228(a), 1301(a), and 1305(a)), the phrase "the order for relief under this chapter" means the date of conversion — but only for cases converted under section 706, 1112, 1208, or 1307. (c) Sections 342 (notice) and 365(d) (deadlines for dealing with leases and contracts) apply to a case converted under section 706, 1112, 1208, or 1307 as if the conversion order were the original order for relief. (d) A claim against the estate or the debtor that arose after the original order for relief but before conversion — in a case converted under section 1112, 1208, or 1307 — is treated, for all purposes, as if it had arisen immediately before the petition was filed. This does not apply to administrative expense claims under section 503(b). (e) Converting a case under section 706, 1112, 1208, or 1307 ends the service of any trustee or examiner who was serving in the case before the conversion. (f) Special rules apply when a chapter 13 case converts to a case under another chapter: (1) Except as paragraph (2) provides: (A) the estate's property in the converted case is whatever property from the original estate the debtor still possesses or controls as of the conversion date; (B) valuations of property and allowed secured claims made in the chapter 13 case carry over only if the case converts to chapter 11 or 12, not chapter 7 — and even then, those secured claims are reduced by however much was already paid under the chapter 13 plan; (C) for cases converting out of chapter 13: (i) a creditor's security interest that existed when the petition was filed stays secured — even if the chapter 13 case gave it a different valuation — unless the full claim, as measured by law outside bankruptcy, was already paid in full by the conversion date; and (ii) if a pre-bankruptcy default was not fully cured under the chapter 13 plan by the time of conversion, that default is treated exactly as it would be treated under the law that applies outside bankruptcy. (2) Exception: if the debtor converted the chapter 13 case to another chapter in bad faith, the estate's property in the converted case consists only of the property the estate owned as of the date of conversion.