Crowley County, Colorado

Which bankruptcy court hears a case from Crowley County?

Crowley County cases go to the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of Colorado, which is a single, undivided district administered from the sole clerk's office and divisional seat at Denver. The governing statute is short: "Colorado constitutes one judicial district" (28 U.S.C. § 85). Because there are no county-based divisions, your county does not determine your judge; cases are assigned by random selection across the district. Grand Junction and Pueblo are statutory places for holding court — hearing locations — not divisions that assign cases. Venue is a separate question, and it follows the greater part of the 180 days before filing: your domicile, residence, principal place of business in the United States, or principal assets in the United States (28 U.S.C. § 1408), so a recent move from another state or a business based elsewhere can change which district is proper. The court's location page notes that a valid government-issued ID and security screening are required to enter the building.

What does this court require of someone filing without a lawyer?

The court's guide for debtors filing without an attorney makes one point plainly: any reference to "attorney" in the Colorado local rules applies to you. Clerk's office staff cannot give legal advice or predict how a judge will rule. Since June 2, 2025, the court has authorized an Electronic Self Representation module, used exclusively by self-represented individual debtors preparing a voluntary Chapter 7 petition. Submitting a package through that module does not commence a case; the case is opened only after the court receives completed, hand-signed originals of the eSR Signature and Declaration Form and the official statement about your Social Security number. Unrepresented parties may otherwise file in person or by mail, and may ask permission to file electronically through CM/ECF using the court's Self-represented E-Filing Application; joint debtors must both apply. Everything you file must carry your name, address, telephone number and email address, and you must notify the court of changes.

• Credit counseling must be completed during the 180-day period ending on the filing date, or a statutory exemption must be met — the court warns that voluntary petitions are otherwise rejected or dismissed.
• The court publishes Chapter 7 and Chapter 13 petition packets with checklists of the required official forms.
• Pay advices or other evidence of payment received in the 60 days before filing must be filed, or the district's local statement form used instead.

What are the filing fees, and what if you cannot pay them?

A Chapter 7 case carries a filing fee of $245 (28 U.S.C. § 1930(a)(1)(A), (f)(1)), plus a $78 administrative fee and a $15 trustee payment collected at filing (Bankruptcy Court Miscellaneous Fee Schedule, Items 8 and 9). A Chapter 13 case carries a filing fee of $235 (28 U.S.C. § 1930(a)(1)(B)) plus the same $78 administrative fee. An individual debtor who cannot pay at once applies to pay in installments on Official Form 103A; a Chapter 7 debtor may instead apply for a waiver on Official Form 103B. This district requires a waiver application to include pay advices or the local substitute statement and completed Schedules I and J, and any waiver order is conditional and open to further investigation by the United States Trustee or the case trustee. By standing order, a paper petition filed without one of those payment options is rejected, and the first installment is due no later than 14 days from the petition date.

How does the meeting of creditors work in this district?

After the order for relief, the United States trustee convenes and presides at a meeting of creditors, and the court may neither preside at nor attend it (11 U.S.C. § 341). In practice, the trustee assigned to a Chapter 7, 12 or 13 case conducts the meeting, and the court states it usually occurs between 21 and 50 days after the petition is filed. In this district all such meetings are held by Zoom; the court's notice says debtors, counsel, creditors and parties in interest should not appear in person, and it publishes meeting IDs, passcodes and dedicated phone lines by trustee. Before the meeting ends, the trustee examines a Chapter 7 debtor about the consequences of seeking a discharge, the option of a different chapter, the effect of a discharge, and the effect of reaffirming a debt. Creditors holding consumer debts may appear and participate, with or without an attorney.

• A debtor's request to continue the meeting must be in writing, served on the trustee, and received no later than seven days before the scheduled date — the trustee approves it, not the court, so do not file the request.
• If the trustee consents, the debtor must file a notice of the continued meeting, serve it, and file a certificate of service.
• A continuance does not automatically extend the deadlines to object to a discharge or to the dischargeability of a particular debt.

What local rules and orders change the process here?

Several District of Colorado orders shape what a filer actually does, and they are the part of the process that genuinely differs from one district to the next. The electronic self-representation module and the self-represented e-filing application are both creatures of standing orders here. Fee practice is set by local rule and by two standing orders covering installment requests and waiver applications, including a required supplemental information exhibit. A separate order stays the court's automatic dismissal process for non-payment of the filing fee for 180 days in any case where the trustee has filed a notice of possible dividends. Chapter 13 filers use the court's own local Chapter 13 Plan form from the Chapter 13 petition packet. A standing order sets a presumptively reasonable fee allowance for a Chapter 13 debtor's attorney, with costs above a set threshold treated as extraordinary and requiring a supplemental application. A chief judge's order also allows clinic attorneys to give short-term limited help without entering an appearance.

Which Colorado questions should you settle before filing?

Three Colorado questions tend to decide what a filing feels like in practice: which exemption list applies to you, what conditions attach to the state's homestead protection, and how much of your wages a judgment creditor can reach before and after a filing. Those figures come from Colorado law and from canonical sources we publish elsewhere; the court documents behind this page do not state them, so this page cannot answer them from the supplied sources. What the court's materials do show is where the answers land on paper: you claim exemptions on Schedule C, "The Property You Claim as Exempt," filed with the rest of your schedules. The district has sanctioned non-attorney petition preparers for selecting the exemption statutes placed on that schedule, which the court treated as giving legal advice. If a garnishment is already running, start with our Colorado wage garnishment page rather than guessing at the limit.

• Exemption choices are recorded on Schedule C and reviewed by the trustee and the United States Trustee.
• A fee waiver turns on income below 150 percent of the official poverty line and an inability to pay in installments.
• Our Colorado garnishment page covers what the law allows and what a filing commonly changes.

Where can a Crowley County resident get help?

The court's own materials are the honest starting point: a guide for debtors filing without an attorney, Chapter 7 and Chapter 13 petition packets with checklists, and a page explaining what the fee waiver turns on. The court also directs filers to a Colorado Bar Association pro se bankruptcy clinic offering limited-scope advice by phone or video appointment, and a chief judge's order permits federal pro se clinic attorneys, staff and volunteers to provide short-term limited legal services to self-represented litigants before the court. The guide additionally lists legal aid organisations serving different parts of the state, with contact details on the court's free legal help pages. Clerk's office staff cannot advise you. If you want to talk a situation through, Arthur, our AI Navigator, can walk the facts with you and build a roadmap, and you can ask for an introduction to a firm admitted in this district.

Frequently asked questions

Do I have to travel to Denver for my meeting of creditors?

No — all meetings of creditors in Chapter 7, 12 and 13 cases in this district are held by Zoom, and the court instructs debtors, counsel, creditors and parties in interest not to appear in person. The court publishes each trustee's meeting ID, passcode and dedicated phone number. Hearings before a judge are scheduled separately and are not part of that meeting.

Can I file a Chapter 7 petition online from Crowley County?

Partly. The court's electronic self-representation module lets a self-represented individual prepare and submit a Chapter 7 petition package, but that submission does not commence a case. The case opens only after the court receives hand-signed originals of the eSR Signature and Declaration Form and the official statement about your Social Security number. Unrepresented parties may also request CM/ECF filing permission.

What happens if I cannot pay the filing fee?

An individual debtor may apply to pay the fee in installments using Official Form 103A, and a Chapter 7 debtor may instead apply for a waiver using Official Form 103B. In this district a waiver application must include pay advices or the local substitute statement plus completed Schedules I and J, and any order granting a waiver is conditional and subject to further investigation.

Does filing without a lawyer change what the court expects of me?

No. The court's guide states that any reference to "attorney" in the Colorado local rules applies to a self-represented debtor, and clerk's office staff are prohibited from giving legal advice or predicting how a judge will rule. You file the same official forms, meet the same deadlines, and must keep your name, address, telephone number and email current on everything you file.

Can a bankruptcy petition preparer choose my exemptions?

No. A non-attorney petition preparer in this district may only type information onto bankruptcy forms and is barred by law from giving legal advice. The court has sanctioned preparers for selecting the exemption statutes on a debtor's schedule and for advising on fee waivers. Preparers must sign documents they prepare, identify themselves on them, and may not take court fees from you.

Sources

• 28 U.S.C. § 85: "Colorado constitutes one judicial district." The District of Colorado is a single, undivided district administered from the sole clerk's office/divisional seat at Denver; cases are assigned to judges by random selection district-wide (L.B.R. 1073-1, "Cases are assigned to judges by random selection to the extent possible"), not by county. Grand Junction and Pueblo are statutory places for holding court (hearing locations) only, not county-assigning divisions. — Court assignment for Crowley County, Colorado
• 28 U.S.C. § 1408 — Venue of cases under title 11
• 11 U.S.C. § 341 — Meetings of creditors and equity security holders · official source
• 11 U.S.C. § 521 — Debtor's duties · official source
• 28 U.S.C. § 1930(a)(1)(A), (f)(1) — Chapter 7 filing fee · official source
• 28 U.S.C. § 1930(a)(1)(B) — Chapter 13 filing fee · official source
• Bankruptcy Court Miscellaneous Fee Schedule, Item 8 — Administrative fee collected at filing
• Bankruptcy Court Miscellaneous Fee Schedule, Item 9 — Chapter 7 trustee payment collected at filing
• COB GPO 2025-1 — Implementing Electronic Self Representation (eSR) for self-represented individual Chapter 7 debtors
• COB GPO 2026-1 — Implementing electronic filing for certain self-represented parties
• COB Administrative Order of the Chief Judge 2020-3 — Federal Pro Se Clinic operations
• COB official material — Guide for Debtors Filing Bankruptcy Without an Attorney
• COB official page — Filing Without an Attorney
• COB official page — 341 Meetings of Creditors by Zoom
• D. Colo. L.B.R. 2003-1 — Continuance of meeting of creditors and equity security holders
• D. Colo. L.B.R. 1006-1 — Installment payments and filing fee waivers
• D. Colo. L.B.R. 1007-6 — Employee payment advices
• D. Colo. L.B.R. 9011-4 — Signatures and contact information
• COB GPO 2014-4(a) — Installment payment requests and additional delegation to the clerk
• COB Amended GPO 2014-4(b) — Fee waiver requests and supplemental information exhibit
• COB GPO 2015-1 — Staying dismissal of certain cases for failure to pay the filing fee
• COB GPO 2021-1 — Chapter 13 fee general procedure order
• COB official page — Chapter 7 Fee Waivers
• COB official page — Fees
• COB official page — Online Payments
• COB official material — Credit Counseling is required BEFORE you file for Bankruptcy
• COB official page — Credit Counseling & Debtor Education Courses
• COB official page — Court Location
• COB official page — Chapter 7 Voluntary Petition Packet
• COB official page — Chapter 13 Voluntary Petition Packet
• COB official page — Bankruptcy Petition Preparers
• COB petition-preparer restriction — Sarah Woodson (17-12218-EEB, docket #41, dated 11/15/2017)

Related

• Build your personalised roadmap
• Find your local bankruptcy court
• Wage garnishment in Colorado: what the law says and what bankruptcy changes
• The 341 meeting of creditors: what actually happens
• Statutes and rules library
• Find a bankruptcy lawyer by state

What it costs to file here

Chapter 7 — total court charges at filing

$338

28 U.S.C. § 1930(a)(1)(A), (f)(1); Bankruptcy Court Miscellaneous Fee Schedule, Item 8; Bankruptcy Court Miscellaneous Fee Schedule, Item 9

Chapter 13 — total court charges at filing

$313

28 U.S.C. § 1930(a)(1)(B); Bankruptcy Court Miscellaneous Fee Schedule, Item 8

Court charges only. What a lawyer charges is separate and varies by district and by case. Estimate the full cost →

Colorado median income

Median annual income, household of one

$87,940

USTP Median Family Income (2026-07-15 period)

The means test compares household income to the published median for the same household size. Being above it is not a bar to filing. Compare your household →