Open an Involuntary Bankruptcy Case

Effective Date: December 1, 2015 Supersedes: April 1, 2010, August 17, 2012

Use the petition as your guide to complete the following instructions.

The form for this document (105) is located on the US Courts website: http://www.uscourts.gov/forms/bankruptcy-forms.

Open an Involuntary Bankruptcy Case

Keystrokes

1. Select Bankruptcy menu.

2. Select Open an Involuntary Case.

3. Complete the following fields on the Open New Involuntary Case screen:

Field	Information
Office	Select the appropriate office from the drop-down list. Click here for map with counties for bankruptcy assignments.
Date filed	Defaults to today's date unless instructed to back-date.
Chapter	Select the appropriate chapter from the drop-down list.
Origin	Leave the origin field as defaulted to Original.

4. Search for the Alleged Debtor.

Enter one or more of the following to search for the alleged debtor:
social security number,
tax identification number,
last, first and middle name, or,
business name.
The party search results returns:

If alleged debtor name…

Then…

Appears

Select the alleged debtor.

Note: It must be an exact match including SSN, full name, and address.

Does not appear

Click the “Create a new party” button. A screen appears for you to enter the information you have regarding the alleged debtor.
Enter the information you have.
Click Submit.

Note: The alleged debtor is always Pro Se. Do not enter an attorney’s name.

5. Search for the petitioning creditor(s):

Enter one or more of the following to search for the petitioning creditor(s):
social security number,
tax identification number,
last, first and middle name, or
business name.
The party search results returns:

If petitioning name…

Then…

Appears

Select the petitioning creditor.

Note: It must be an exact match including SSN, full name, and address.

Does not appear

Click the “Create a new party” button. A screen appears for you to enter the information you have regarding the petitioning creditor.
Enter the information you have.
Click the End petitioning creditor selection button.

6. Verify Divisional assignment. A screen appears showing the divisional office you selected. Check to be certain that you selected the correct office. If the office shown is incorrect, go back and select the correct office.

7. Statistical Information Screen

If the case is…	Then…
Chapter 7	For Nature of debt, select business or consumer. For Type of debtor, select the item that best describes the debtor. For Nature of Business, select the one that applies.
Chapter 11	For Small business, select Y or N. Click the check box to indicate if a plan is being filed with the petition, if true. Click the check box to indicate if acceptances of the plan were solicited prepetition, if true. For Nature of debt, select business or consumer. For Type of debtor, select the item that best describes the debtor. For Nature of Business, select the one that applies.

8. Browse, verify and attach the document (PDF file).

Attach supportive documents, if applicable.
Note: Tax documents must be emailed to the case trustee. Do not attach to the Petition.

9. Verify filing fee. DO NOT enter a receipt number if you are paying via the Internet. CM/ECF provides a warning message to remind you: Do not enter a receipt number below if you will be paying via the internet!

10. Verify final docket text before submitting onto case docket.

11. Pay filing fees. To see credit card screens, click here.

Select Pay Now or Continue Filing.

12. Review the Notice of Electronic Filing. It is your receipt.

Make note of the assigned case number.

With Involuntary Bankruptcy opening:

Case Number assigned.

Involuntary Petition event docketed.

Credit Card charged for filing fee (attorney filer).

Receipt information from treasury dockets (attorney filer).

Open an Involuntary Bankruptcy Case