What Is a Bankruptcy Petition and How Do You File?

A bankruptcy petition is the formal document you file in federal bankruptcy court to open a bankruptcy case. The moment the clerk accepts it, an automatic stay takes effect and most creditors have to stop collecting from you.¹ To file, you complete a standardized petition and a set of supporting schedules that lay out your debts, assets, income, and expenses, submit them to the bankruptcy court for your district, and pay the filing fee (or request installments or a waiver). What follows walks through eligibility, the paperwork, the fee, and what happens after you file.

Voluntary Filings and the Automatic Stay

Almost all consumer cases are voluntary: you choose to file, you pick the chapter, and filing the petition itself creates the “order for relief” that puts the court’s protections in place.² Creditors can force a debtor into bankruptcy through an involuntary petition, but only under Chapter 7 or Chapter 11, and farmers and family farmers are exempt.³ If you are the one considering filing, you are filing voluntarily.

The automatic stay is the practical reason most people file quickly. It halts pending lawsuits, wage garnishments, foreclosures, repossessions, and direct collection contact from covered creditors.¹ It does not stop everything: criminal proceedings, most child support and alimony collection, certain tax matters, and domestic-relations actions continue. Creditors who violate the stay after being notified can be sanctioned.

Who Can File

To file in the United States, you must live here, do business here, or own property here.⁴ You must also complete credit counseling with an approved agency within 180 days before filing.⁵ Beyond that, eligibility depends on the chapter.

Chapter 7

Chapter 7 liquidation is open to individuals and most business entities, though banks, insurance companies, railroads, and certain financial institutions cannot use it.⁴ Individuals with primarily consumer debts have to pass a means test. If your household income is below your state’s median for your family size, you generally qualify.⁶ Median income for a single-earner household in 2025 ranges from roughly $53,000 to $76,000 depending on the state.⁷

Above the median, you complete a longer calculation on Official Form 122A-2, subtracting allowed expenses (housing, transportation, taxes, health care, childcare) from income. If disposable income is too high, the court presumes Chapter 7 would be an abuse and you may be pushed toward Chapter 13.⁶

Chapter 13

Chapter 13 is only for individuals with regular income whose debts fall below the statutory caps. For cases filed between April 1, 2025 and March 31, 2028, unsecured debts must be under $526,700 and secured debts under $1,580,125.⁴ Above those limits, Chapter 11 is the alternative.

What to Gather Before You Start

The forms ask for a complete financial picture, so pull the records together before you sit down to fill anything in. Federal law requires you to provide:⁸

A list of every creditor with names, addresses, and amounts owed, separated into secured (mortgages, car loans) and unsecured (credit cards, medical bills).
All income sources and amounts for the previous six months, plus pay stubs from the 60 days before filing.
An inventory of everything you own, including real estate, vehicles, bank accounts, retirement accounts, and personal property.
Monthly expenses covering rent or mortgage, food, utilities, insurance, transportation, and other regular costs.
All current contracts and leases.
Any property you sold, gave away, or transferred recently.
A statement of expected income or expense changes over the next 12 months.

You also have to give the trustee your most recent federal tax return, or a transcript, at least seven days before the meeting of creditors.⁹ Missing tax documents can get a case dismissed, so if you have unfiled returns, file them first. Keep your credit counseling certificate handy; the court needs proof you completed the course.

The Forms You File

All the required forms are on the U.S. Courts website.¹⁰ Individuals file Official Form 101, the Voluntary Petition for Individuals Filing for Bankruptcy. Corporations, LLCs, partnerships, and other entities file Official Form 201.¹¹

Alongside the petition, you file supporting schedules:

Schedule A/B: all property you own or have an interest in.
Schedule C: property you claim as exempt.
Schedule D: creditors holding secured claims.
Schedule E/F: unsecured claims, split between priority (like taxes) and general (like credit cards).
Schedule I: current income.
Schedule J: current monthly expenses.
Statement of Financial Affairs: a detailed questionnaire on your recent financial history, including lawsuits, payments to creditors, and property transfers.

Individual Chapter 7 filers also complete Form 122A (means test); Chapter 13 filers complete Form 122C. Every form is signed under penalty of perjury, and knowingly filing false information is a federal crime carrying up to five years in prison and fines up to $250,000.¹²¹³

Where You File and What It Costs

File at the federal bankruptcy court for the district where you live or run your business. Attorneys file electronically through the court’s CM/ECF system. If you file pro se (without an attorney), you can bring paper documents to the clerk’s office, and some courts offer electronic filing tools for self-represented individuals.

Court filing fees by chapter:

Chapter 7: $338
Chapter 13: $313
Chapter 12: $278
Chapter 11: $1,738

If you cannot pay upfront, ask the court for installments: up to four payments over 120 days, extendable to 180 days for good cause.¹⁴ Full fee waivers are available only in Chapter 7 cases where household income is under 150 percent of the federal poverty guidelines and you cannot manage installments.¹⁵ For 2026, that threshold is $23,940 for a single person in the continental U.S. and $49,500 for a family of four.¹⁶ Chapter 13 filers can use installments but cannot get a full waiver.

Once the clerk accepts your petition, you get a case number that identifies the case in all later filings.

Emergency (Skeleton) Filing

If a foreclosure sale, garnishment, or repossession is imminent, you can file a stripped-down petition to trigger the automatic stay right away. At minimum you typically need the voluntary petition, your Social Security number statement, the credit counseling certificate, and a list of all creditors.

You then have 14 days to file the rest of the schedules and statements.¹⁷ The court can extend that for good cause, but blowing the deadline usually means dismissal, and dismissal means the stay goes away.

What Happens After You File

Notice and the 341 Meeting

The court notifies every creditor listed in your petition. The assigned trustee then schedules the meeting of creditors, known as the 341 meeting, where the trustee and any creditors can question you under oath about your finances.¹⁸ It usually falls 20 to 40 days after filing.

Debtor Education Course

The pre-filing credit counseling is only the first course. After filing, you must complete a separate financial management course. In Chapter 7, the completion certificate is due within 60 days after the first date set for the 341 meeting.¹⁷ Skip it, and the court can deny your discharge, leaving your debts intact.¹⁹ In Chapter 13, the certificate is due before the discharge at the end of the plan.

Discharge

The discharge is the court order that wipes out qualifying debts. In a typical Chapter 7, it lands about 60 days after the 341 meeting, roughly three to four months from filing. Chapter 13 discharge only comes after you finish the three-to-five-year repayment plan. Not everything gets discharged: student loans (in most situations), recent tax debts, child support, and alimony generally survive.

1
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 11 U.S. Code 362 – Automatic Stay
2
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 11 USC 301 – Voluntary Cases
3
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 11 USC 303 – Involuntary Cases
4
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 11 U.S. Code 109 – Who May Be a Debtor
5
U.S. Trustee Program. Frequently Asked Questions – Credit Counseling
6
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 11 U.S. Code 707 – Dismissal of a Case or Conversion
7
Justice.gov. Census Bureau Median Family Income by Family Size
8
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 11 USC 521 – Debtor’s Duties
9
Cornell Law School. Federal Rules of Bankruptcy Procedure Rule 4002 – Debtor’s Duties
10
United States Courts. Bankruptcy Forms
11
United States Courts. Official Form 201 – Voluntary Petition for Non-Individuals Filing for Bankruptcy
12
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 USC 152 – Concealment of Assets, False Oaths and Claims, Bribery
13
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 U.S. Code 3571 – Sentence of Fine
14
Cornell Law School. Federal Rules of Bankruptcy Procedure Rule 1006 – Filing Fee
15
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 28 U.S. Code 1930 – Bankruptcy Fees
16
United States Courts. 150 Percent of the HHS Poverty Guidelines for 2026
17
Cornell Law School. Federal Rules of Bankruptcy Procedure Rule 1007 – Lists, Schedules, Statements, and Other Documents
18
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 11 USC 341 – Meetings of Creditors and Equity Security Holders
19
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 11 USC 727 – Discharge