Bankruptcy districts, divisions, and where a case is filed

What is a bankruptcy district, exactly?

Bankruptcy is federal. Every case is filed with a United States Bankruptcy Court, and each of those courts covers a defined geographic area called a district. Some states are a single district; larger states are split into several, which is why you see names like the Northern District of Georgia or the Southern District of Florida.

The district is the court. It has its own clerk's office, its own judges, and its own set of local bankruptcy rules that sit on top of the federal Bankruptcy Code and the national rules. Those local rules are where a lot of the practical detail lives, including how the district is divided internally.

Because the system is federal, the same statutes apply everywhere. Who may be a debtor is set nationally by 11 U.S.C. § 109, and which chapters apply to a case is set by 11 U.S.C. § 103. What changes district to district is procedure and local practice, not the underlying chapters.

• District = the court and its clerk's office
• Local bankruptcy rules are published by each district
• The Bankruptcy Code itself is the same nationwide

What is a division within a district?

A division is a subdivision of a district: a named group of counties served by a particular courthouse or clerk's office. Districts publish those county lists in their local rules, and they are specific rather than approximate.

The Southern District of Florida, for example, is divided into three divisions — Miami (Miami-Dade and Monroe Counties), Fort Lauderdale (Broward County), and West Palm Beach (Highlands, Indian River, Martin, Okeechobee, Palm Beach, and St. Lucie Counties) (S.D. Fla. LBR 1002-2). The District of Nevada is one judicial district split into two divisions, Southern and Northern, with Clark, Esmeralda, Lincoln, and Nye Counties in the Southern Division (Nev. LBR 1071).

Not every division has a staffed office. The Southern District of Georgia holds court in all six of its divisions but staffs offices only in Savannah, Augusta, and Brunswick (Bankr. S.D. Ga. official guidance — Divisions, Counties Served and Case Numbers). Divisions can also change, so the current local rule is the thing to read.

Why does the district and division matter in a case?

It decides which courthouse your paperwork goes to, which clerk's office you deal with, which judge pool your case is drawn from, and where any hearing you have to attend is held. In the Middle District of Florida, each division's rule states where the court conducts hearings — Jacksonville, Orlando, Tampa, and Fort Myers respectively (M.D. Fla. LBR 1071-1). That is a practical travel question for anyone without a car or with a job they cannot leave.

It also drives case assignment. In the Southern District of Florida, an individual's chapter 7, 11, 12, or 13 petition is randomly assigned to a judge in the division where the first address on the petition sits (S.D. Fla. LBR 1002-2). The Southern District of Georgia encodes the division directly in the case number — the first digit after the dash is the division code (Bankr. S.D. Ga. official guidance — Divisions, Counties Served and Case Numbers).

What it does not change is the federal filing fee, which is set by statute.

• Which clerk's office receives the petition
• Where hearings, including the meeting of creditors, are typically held
• Which judges the case may be assigned to
• In some districts, the case number itself

How do courts decide which division a case belongs in?

The recurring test in local rules is a 180-day look-back. Cases are generally commenced in the division where the debtor's domicile, residence, principal place of business, or principal assets were located for the 180 days immediately preceding the filing — or for a longer part of that 180-day period than in any other division (N.D. Fla. LBR 1014-1; M.D. Fla. LBR 1071-1). The Middle District of Georgia states the same rule and adds that if proper venue is outside the district entirely, the clerk assigns the case to the division closest to the debtor's domicile, residence, principal place of business, or principal assets (M.D. Ga. LBR 1071-1).

There is a second route: a division where a case is already pending concerning the debtor's affiliate, general partner, or partnership (M.D. Fla. LBR 1071-1). That matters far more in business cases than consumer ones.

The Central District of California words its test differently, pointing to the debtor's residence, principal offices, officers, and books and records (C.D. Cal. LBR 1071-1). Read your own district's rule.

• Domicile, residence, principal place of business, or principal assets
• Measured over the 180 days before filing, or the greater part of it
• Alternatively, where an affiliate's case is already pending

What happens if a case is filed in the wrong division?

This is generally correctable rather than fatal. Local rules across districts give the court and the clerk tools to move a misfiled case to the right place.

The Northern District of Georgia's rule provides that the bankruptcy court may transfer any bankruptcy case to another division within the district, either on motion of a party in interest or on its own (N.D. Ga. BLR 1071-1). The Central District of California states that if a petition is filed in the wrong division, the court may on its own transfer it to the appropriate division or retain the case (C.D. Cal. LBR 1071-1) — Nevada uses nearly identical language (Nev. LBR 1071). In the Southern District of Florida the clerk is authorized to reassign a petition filed in the wrong division to the correct one (S.D. Fla. LBR 1002-2). The Southern District of Ohio directs the clerk to forward a case filed in an improper location and to advise the debtor, the debtor's attorney, and noticed parties of the reassignment (S.D. Ohio LBR 1071–1).

• Courts may transfer on their own motion or on a party's motion
• Some clerks may reassign without a court order
• Notice requirements after a transfer vary by district
• N.D. Florida sets a 21-day window for a party seeking a different division (N.D. Fla. LBR 1014-1)

What are the main limits and exceptions to these rules?

First, a division is an administrative convenience, and some districts have very little rule text about it at all — the Northern District of Iowa's rule simply notes that judges' official duty stations and the places of holding court are determined by the Judicial Conference of the United States (Bankr. N.D. Iowa L.R. 1071-1).

Second, division lines change. The Northern District of Alabama's local rule listing its Eastern, Northern, Southern, and Western divisions carries a note that the rule has been abrogated effective October 1, 2025 (Bankr. N.D. Ala. R. 1071-1), which is a good illustration of why an old county list should never be trusted on its own.

Third, some chapters are treated differently. In the Southern District of Florida a chapter 9 or 15 petition may be filed in any division of the court (S.D. Fla. LBR 1002-2). And in a chapter 9 municipal case, the chief judge of the court of appeals for the circuit embracing the district designates the bankruptcy judge to conduct the case (11 U.S.C. § 921). Neither situation reaches a consumer case.

• Some districts publish only minimal divisional rules
• County-to-division assignments are amended from time to time
• Chapters 9 and 15 can follow separate placement rules

Does any of this differ between Chapter 7 and Chapter 13?

Very little. The venue and division rules quoted above generally apply the same way to chapter 7, 11, 12, and 13 cases. The Southern District of Florida's rule states plainly that a petition under chapter 7, 11, 12, or 13 must be filed in the division where the debtor's domicile, residence, principal place of business, or principal assets are located (S.D. Fla. LBR 1002-2). The 180-day look-back does not change with the chapter you file.

What does differ by chapter is the fee. A case commenced under chapter 7 carries a $245 filing fee, and a case commenced under chapter 13 carries a $235 filing fee (28 U.S.C. § 1930). Separate amounts are collected as an administrative fee of $78 in each chapter, and a $15 trustee payment applies in chapter 7 (Bankruptcy Court Miscellaneous Fee Schedule, Items 8 and 9). Those figures are national and do not vary by district or division.

What do people most commonly get wrong about this?

The most common error is assuming the nearest courthouse is the right one. Division boundaries follow county lists, not driving distance, and a courthouse an hour closer may sit in a division your county is not part of. The county lists are published; check them rather than estimating.

The second is treating a mailing address as the answer. The Northern District of Florida's rule, addressing transferred cases, points to the division where the debtor actually lives as opposed to the debtor's mailing address (N.D. Fla. LBR 1014-1). A P.O. box in one county does not move you there.

The third is forgetting the 180-day window entirely. If you moved recently, the correct division may still be the one you left, because the test looks backward (M.D. Fla. LBR 1071-1).

The fourth is expecting a clerk to tell you what to do. Clerks can point you to the local rule; they cannot give you legal advice about how it applies to your facts.

• Nearest courthouse is not the same as correct division
• Residence, not mailing address
• A recent move can leave venue in your former division
• Clerks provide procedure, not advice

Frequently asked questions

How many bankruptcy districts are there?

We do not publish a verified national count here, and we would rather omit a number than approximate one. What we can say from published local rules is that districts are federal judicial districts, some states contain several, and each publishes its own divisional structure. Your state hub and the court finder identify the district covering a specific county.

Can I file in a different division because it is more convenient?

Convenience alone does not usually decide placement, but some rules do consider it on transfer. The Middle District of Florida allows the court, on a party's motion or its own, to transfer a case to a different division if the transfer is in the interest of justice or for the convenience of the parties (M.D. Fla. LBR 1071-1). The initial filing still follows the venue test.

Does the division change my filing fee?

No. Filing fees are set by federal statute and are the same in every district and division: $245 for a case commenced under chapter 7 and $235 for a case commenced under chapter 13 (28 U.S.C. § 1930). The administrative fee of $78 and, in chapter 7, the $15 trustee payment also apply nationally.

What is the 180-day rule I keep seeing?

It is the look-back period most local rules use to place a case. Cases are commonly commenced where the debtor's domicile, residence, principal place of business, or principal assets were located for the 180 days immediately before filing, or for a longer portion of that period than anywhere else (N.D. Fla. LBR 1014-1). It is measured backward from the filing date.

Where do I find the division for my county?

In your district's local bankruptcy rules, which publish the county list for each division. Some districts also publish standalone guidance, such as the Southern District of Georgia's divisions-and-case-numbers document (Bankr. S.D. Ga. official guidance — Divisions, Counties Served and Case Numbers). Our court finder maps a county to its district and division where we have a current, sourced assignment.

Can the court clerk tell me which division to file in?

A clerk can point you to the local rule and the published county list, and in several districts the clerk may reassign a case filed in the wrong division (S.D. Fla. LBR 1002-2). What a clerk cannot do is give legal advice about how the venue test applies to your particular circumstances. That distinction is a real one and it is not the clerk being unhelpful.

Sources

• 28 U.S.C. § 1930 — Bankruptcy fees · official source
• 11 U.S.C. § 109 — Who may be a debtor · official source
• 11 U.S.C. § 103 — Applicability of chapters
• 11 U.S.C. § 921 — Petition and proceedings relating to petition
• S.D. Fla. LBR 1002-2 — Commencing a Bankruptcy Case - Divisional and Judicial Assignment
• M.D. Fla. LBR 1071-1 — Divisions – Bankruptcy Court
• N.D. Fla. LBR 1014-1 — Divisions
• N.D. Ga. BLR 1071-1 — Divisions - Bankruptcy Court
• M.D. Ga. LBR 1071-1 — Divisions – Bankruptcy Court
• C.D. Cal. LBR 1071-1 — Divisions - Place of Filing
• Nev. LBR 1071 — Divisions – Bankruptcy Court
• N.D. Ohio LBR 1071-1 — Divisions – Bankruptcy Court
• S.D. Ohio LBR 1071–1 — Divisions — Bankruptcy Court
• Bankr. N.D. Ala. R. 1071-1 — Divisions of the Bankruptcy Court
• Bankr. N.D. Iowa L.R. 1071-1 — Divisions - Bankruptcy Court
• Bankr. S.D. Ga. official guidance — Divisions, Counties Served and Case Numbers
• Bankruptcy Court Miscellaneous Fee Schedule, Item 8
• Bankruptcy Court Miscellaneous Fee Schedule, Item 9

Related

• Find your local bankruptcy court
• Build your personalised roadmap
• Why court clerks and trustees cannot give you legal advice
• What a bankruptcy trustee does
• Bankruptcy chapters available to consumers: 7, 11, 12 and 13
• Statutes and rules library