Bankruptcy Venue

[matthewcl]

I lived in Arizona for 11 years, I moved to Northern Califronia about 4 months ago. I had a pretition preparer due my paperwork for a Chapter 7. When I looked over the forms I noticed that the district listed was AZ. I know I need to use the AZ property exemptions, but I am filing in Northern California. Is it correct to have the paperwork district listed as Arizona?

Thanks

[justbroke]

I don't think so. You use the Arizona Exemptions (if allowed by Arizona State law) on your petition, but you certainly file in the District of California.

So, if you're telling me, that the "caption" on the top of your petition first page (B1 Official Form 1) reads "XXXXXX DISTRICT OF ARIZONA", they indeed did that wrong if you're filing it in California! Wow, did the preparer, even read the Instructions?

An individual debtor generally should file a bankruptcy case in the federal judicial district in which the individual resides or maintains a domicile...

If the debtor has not maintained a domicile, residence, principal place of business, or principal assets in one federal judicial district for the entire 180 days before filing the bankruptcy case, the debtor should file in the district in which its domicile, residence, principal place of business, or principal assets were located for the longest portion of the 180 days.

So, basically, you've lived in California for 4 months (120 days). Of the last 180 days, you've lived in California for the majority of that time (120 out of 180). The preparer should have marked the documents to be filed in the NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA.

Also, the preparer should have checked the first box under "Venue" on page 2 of Form B1 (Official Form 1).