How to File a Bankruptcy Petition: 7 Steps From the Right Form to the Case Number

The petition that opens a bankruptcy case runs to a few pages, and a surprising share of the cases that fail early fail on those pages rather than on anything a creditor argues. The wrong form, the wrong district, a missing certificate, or a fee arrangement the clerk will not accept can each end the matter before a trustee has read a schedule.

What follows is the mechanical sequence for filing a bankruptcy petition, from the choice of form to the moment the case receives a number. It assumes the decision to file has been made with counsel. The questions of whether to file and under which chapter belong to other pages, and to a lawyer.

1. The Debtor's Legal Form Chooses the Petition

Individuals file Official Form 101, the Voluntary Petition for Individuals Filing for Bankruptcy. Corporations, partnerships, and limited liability companies file Official Form 201, the Voluntary Petition for Non-Individuals. The federal judiciary's guidance adds a line worth reading twice: sole proprietors "must use the forms that are numbered in the 100 series," because a sole proprietorship is the owner and has no separate existence to put into bankruptcy.

An LLC owner facing guaranties may therefore need two petitions, one on each form, and they are separate cases. The forms are free on the judiciary's site. Official forms must be used under Bankruptcy Rule 9009, though many courts also require local forms of their own.

2. Venue Follows the Last 180 Days

Under 28 U.S.C. 1408, a case may be commenced in the district where the debtor's domicile, residence, principal place of business, or principal assets in the United States were located for the 180 days before filing, or for a longer portion of that period than anywhere else. A second basis lets a company file where an affiliate, general partner, or partnership already has a case pending.

Form 201 asks the question directly, at item 11, with boxes that track the statute. An owner who moved the business across a district line four months ago has a question worth putting to counsel before the form is signed. The court may transfer a case to another district in the interest of justice or for the convenience of the parties, but a transfer costs time the debtor may not have.

3. Individuals Bring a Counseling Certificate; Companies Bring Authority

Section 109(h) bars an individual from being a debtor unless, in the 180 days preceding the petition, the individual sat through a budget and credit counseling session with a nonprofit agency the government has approved, which may be conducted by telephone or online. The certificate goes in with the petition. An exception for exigent circumstances defers the briefing for a short period and does not excuse it.

A company takes no briefing. What it needs instead is authority. Since Price v. Gurney, decided in 1945, courts have held that the power to put a corporation into bankruptcy comes from state law, and that a petition filed by people who lack it must be dismissed. Form 201's signature block has the authorized representative declare, "I have been authorized to file this petition on behalf of the debtor," which is a statement the board resolution or members' consent in the file had better support.

4. Some Papers Travel With the Petition and Others May Follow

With the petition comes a list of creditors, which some courts call the mailing matrix. A company in chapter 11 adds Official Form 204, the list of its twenty largest unsecured creditors who are not insiders, and a small business debtor attaches its most recent balance sheet, statement of operations, cash-flow statement, and federal income tax return, or a sworn statement that none has been prepared. A corporate debtor also files an ownership statement identifying any corporation that holds ten or more of every hundred shares of its stock.

The schedules of assets and liabilities, the statement of financial affairs, and the related declarations may come with the petition or within 14 days after it, under Bankruptcy Rule 1007(c), and the court may extend that time on motion for cause. An individual in chapter 7 or 13 who has not filed the required information within 45 days faces dismissal effective on the 46th day under section 521(i). There are ways to buy a few days, though the people who most need them tend to be the ones who assumed the deadline was softer than it is.

5. The Fee Is Due at Filing, With Two Exceptions That Belong to Individuals

At filing, the court collects the statutory fee plus the Judicial Conference's administrative charges: $338 in chapter 7, $313 in chapter 13, and $1,738 in chapter 11, including Subchapter V, under the fee schedule in effect since December 1, 2023. These figures change by Judicial Conference action and should be confirmed with the clerk on the day of filing.

Bankruptcy Rule 1006 requires every petition to be accompanied by the fee, and then makes room for individuals. The clerk must accept an individual's voluntary petition, even with nothing paid, if it comes with a signed application to pay in installments on Form 103A. The court may then allow no more than four installments, with every payment due within 120 days after filing; for cause it may extend an installment, but the last one must be paid within 180 days. Until the fee is paid in full, the debtor may make no further payment to an attorney or anyone else providing services in the case.

The second exception is a waiver, available only in chapter 7 and only to individuals. Under 28 U.S.C. 1930(f), the court may waive the fee for a person whose income is less than 150 percent of the official poverty line for the household's size and who cannot pay in installments; the application is Form 103B. The word in the statute is "may."

A company has no installment plan and no waiver. It pays in full, on the day, and the petition of an LLC that cannot find $1,738 is itself a piece of information about the case to come.

6. Filing Is Electronic for Anyone With a Lawyer

Under Bankruptcy Rule 5005, an entity represented by an attorney must file electronically unless the court allows otherwise for cause or a local rule provides differently. An individual without a lawyer may file electronically only where a court order or local rule allows it, and where neither exists, the filing arrives on paper. A company has no such option, since an entity appears in federal court only through a licensed lawyer, which is a rule older than the Bankruptcy Code by a long distance.

You sign it, your lawyer files it, and the timestamp is the case.

7. The Case Number Arrives With the Order for Relief

A voluntary case begins when the petition is filed, and under section 301(b) the filing itself "constitutes an order for relief." There is no hearing first. The automatic stay of section 362(a) takes effect at the same moment, and the case number assigned on filing becomes the reference every creditor, trustee, and clerk will use from that day forward, the string of digits an owner will recite into telephones for months, write on the memo line of every check to the trustee, and eventually read, perhaps with some relief, on the order that closes the case.

Notice follows. Section 342(a) requires appropriate notice that relief has been ordered, and Bankruptcy Rule 2002(a) requires at least 21 days' notice by mail of the meeting of creditors, which the United States trustee must convene between 21 and 40 days out in a chapter 7 or 11 case and between 21 and 50 days out in chapter 13. The notice goes to every creditor on the list from the fourth step. A creditor missing from that list may not receive it, which is one more reason the list deserves more care than its length suggests.

Before the First Form Is Opened

Delancey Street operates as a negotiator, not a law firm. It prepares no petitions, advises no one on whether to file, and appears in no court. What it does is negotiate funder balances, loans, and vendor debt outside bankruptcy, beginning with a no-cost, confidential review of the contracts and bank activity and calling on independently licensed attorneys when a matter needs one. A business already facing a sale date, a levy, or more debt than any negotiation could reach needs bankruptcy counsel and the seven steps above, not a settlement company.

The forms are public and the rules are printed. The judgment about which of them to use, and when, is the part no clerk can supply.