BENEFICIUM COMPETENTIAE

beneficium competentiae (ben-[schwa]-fish-ee-[schwa]m kom-p[schwa]-ten-shi-ee). [Latin “privilege of competency”] Roman & Scots law. A debtor’s right to be ordered to pay only as much as the debtor reasonably could, so that after assigning his or her estate to creditors, the debtor kept enough to live on. See assignment for the benefit of creditors under ASSIGNMENT; SALVO