Priority Claim
An unsecured claim that is entitled to be paid ahead of other unsecured claims that are not entitled to priority status. Priority refers to the order in which these unsecured claims are to be paid. Examples are administrative expenses and salaries, past due alimony and child support, wages, employee benefits, customer deposits and taxes which occurred pre-petition. Priority claims are also typically non-dischargeable. Accordingly, if a debtor knows that he/she have non-exempt assets that will be liquidated during the bankruptcy, the debtor should make sure priority claims are filed to ensure that they are paid first since the obligation will survive bankruptcy anyway.