---
kind: "section"
citation: "28 U.S.C. § 3305"
title: "28"
title_heading: "Judiciary and Judicial Procedure"
number: "3305"
heading: "When transfer is made or obligation is incurred"
release: "119-102"
date: "2026-07-12"
url: "https://uscodex.org/usc/28/3305"
units:
  - "Part VI — Particular Proceedings"
  - "Chapter 176 — Federal Debt Collection Procedure"
  - "Subchapter D — Fraudulent Transfers Involving Debts"
---

# §3305. When transfer is made or obligation is incurred


For the purposes of this subchapter:

- (1) A transfer is made—
  - (A) with respect to an [asset](/usc/28/3301.md?p=2) that is real [property](/usc/28/3002.md?p=12) (other than a fixture, but including the interest of a seller or purchaser under a contract for the sale of the [asset](/usc/28/3301.md?p=2)), when the transfer is so far perfected that a good-faith purchaser of the [asset](/usc/28/3301.md?p=2) from the [debtor](/usc/28/3002.md?p=4) against whom applicable law permits the transfer to be perfected cannot acquire an interest in the [asset](/usc/28/3301.md?p=2) that is superior to the interest of the transferee; and
  - (B) with respect to an [asset](/usc/28/3301.md?p=2) that is not real [property](/usc/28/3002.md?p=12) or that is a fixture, when the transfer is so far perfected that a [creditor](/usc/28/3301.md?p=4) on a simple contract cannot acquire, otherwise than under this subchapter, a judicial lien that is superior to the interest of the transferee.
- (2) If applicable law permits the transfer to be perfected as approved in [paragraph (1)](#1) and the transfer is not so perfected before the commencement of an action or proceeding for relief under this subchapter, the transfer is deemed made immediately before the commencement of the action or proceeding.
- (3) If applicable law does not permit the transfer to be perfected as provided in [paragraph (1)](#1), the transfer is made when it becomes effective between the [debtor](/usc/28/3002.md?p=4) and the transferee.
- (4) A transfer is not made until the [debtor](/usc/28/3002.md?p=4) has acquired rights in the [asset](/usc/28/3301.md?p=2) transferred.
- (5) An obligation is incurred—
  - (A) if oral, when it becomes effective between the parties; or
  - (B) if evidenced by a writing executed by the obligor, when such writing is delivered to or for the benefit of the obligee.

## Source credit

(Added Pub. L. 101–647, title XXXVI, § 3611, Nov. 29, 1990, 104 Stat. 4962.)

## Notes

### Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

### Effective Date

Section effective 180 days after Nov. 29, 1990, and applicable with respect to certain actions for debts owed the United States pending in court on that effective date, see section 3631 of Pub. L. 101–647, set out as a note under section 3001 of this title.