Fundamentals
How Bankruptcy.law researches, cites, and updates its legal information
Every legal statement on Bankruptcy.law traces to a primary source: the Bankruptcy Code, the Federal Rules of Bankruptcy Procedure, or an official court publication. Quoted text is verbatim, figures are stored as structured facts carrying a citation and a verification date, and every page shows its sources. Where no verified source exists for a question, the page says so rather than estimating.
Key points
- Legal text on this site is reproduced verbatim from official sources, not paraphrased from memory or summarised from other websites.
- Every dollar figure is stored as a structured fact with its own citation and verification date, and is written into the page beside that citation.
- Bankruptcy is federal law and federal courts have exclusive jurisdiction over bankruptcy cases (Bankr. D. Md. official page — Legal Overview), so sourcing starts with the Code and the Rules.
- Sources are re-checked on a published cycle; only an unchanged re-check advances a verification date, and a detected change opens a human review instead.
- This is information, not legal advice, and courts themselves caution that their own published material should not be relied on as legal authority (Bankr. W.D. Ky. official guidance — Filing Without an Attorney).
If you are reading about bankruptcy while creditors are calling, the last thing you need is a number someone guessed. This page explains where the law on this site comes from, how a figure gets from a statute onto a page, and what we do when there is no verified answer. It is the page to read before trusting any of the others.
What are Bankruptcy.law's editorial standards, exactly?
Two layers sit behind every page.
The first is a library of primary law held verbatim: sections of the Bankruptcy Code, the Federal Rules of Bankruptcy Procedure, local bankruptcy rules, and guidance published by the bankruptcy courts themselves. Nothing in that library is rewritten. When a page quotes law, it quotes the collected text.
The second layer is a set of structured facts derived from that text — a filing fee, a fee-schedule item — each stored with its citation, its source link, and a verification date. Pages read those facts rather than repeating a number an author remembered.
Citations follow the conventions the Rules themselves set out. Fed. R. Bankr. P. 1001(c) provides that in the Rules the Bankruptcy Code is cited with a section sign and number, and a rule is cited with "Rule" followed by the rule number. We use the same form so a citation on a page can be looked up directly.
- Verbatim law is stored and quoted, never paraphrased into a legal proposition.
- Figures live as structured facts with citation, source URL, and verification date.
- Where no verified source covers a question, the gap is stated on the page.
Why does it matter in a bankruptcy case where a figure comes from?
Because the whole system runs on accuracy that is checked against you, not against a website.
Under 11 U.S.C. § 521, a debtor must file a list of creditors, schedules of assets and liabilities, a schedule of current income and current expenditures, a statement of financial affairs, and a statement of monthly net income itemised to show how it is calculated. The standard the Code describes for information in a case is that it be "complete, accurate, and truthful," and that information provided may be audited, with failure to provide it risking dismissal or other sanction (11 U.S.C. § 527). Those are consequences that attach to your filing, not to our prose.
Courts are candid about the limits of published material. The Western District of Kentucky states that while information on its site is accurate as of publication, "it should not be cited or relied upon as legal authority." A site that cannot show you where a number came from cannot be checked at all.
- A wrong figure does not change the law; it changes the decision someone makes about their own case.
- Bankruptcy filings become public records accessible through PACER (Bankr. W.D. La. official page — FAQs).
- A citation you can open is the only practical way to verify what you read here.
How does a statute actually become a page on this site?
The pipeline is deliberately one-directional.
First, collection: the text of a statute, rule, or official court publication is captured from the source that publishes it, with its URL recorded. Second, derivation: any structured value read out of that text is entered as a proposal marked for review, not published. Third, human verification: a named person confirms the value against the source before it becomes publicly readable. A page reads only verified values.
Fourth, writing: an author works from that packet — verbatim excerpts plus verified facts — and every figure is written inline next to its citation, so the sentence can be quoted without losing its provenance. Fifth, validation before publishing: a page whose figures do not match the canonical values, or whose citations do not appear in its own source packet, is not published.
Corrections take the same route. Because content is stored as data rather than compiled into the site, a fixed figure goes live without waiting for a release.
| Stage | What happens | What is NOT allowed |
|---|---|---|
| Collect | Verbatim text captured from the official publisher, with its URL | Retyping law from a secondary site |
| Derive | A value read out of that text is proposed for review | Publishing a proposed value |
| Verify | A named person confirms the value against the source | Automated approval |
| Write | Figures written inline beside their citation | Quoting a figure from memory |
| Validate | Figures and citations checked against the packet | Publishing a page that fails the check |
What are the limits of what this site can tell you?
Three limits are real and worth stating plainly.
We do not give legal advice or represent anyone, and we do not predict outcomes. Courts hold the same line about timing: the District of Maryland states "We cannot predict when you personally will get a discharge," describing a typical Chapter 7 case as possibly four to six months after filing the paperwork. Where a page describes what commonly happens, that is a pattern, not a forecast for your case.
Second, local practice varies more than most readers expect. Districts adopt their own local rules and define their own terms — compare W.D. Tenn. LBR 1001-2 and M.D. Ga. LBR 9001-1, each supplying definitions for its own court. We do not publish a verified figure or procedure for every district, and where we have not, the page says so.
Third, court staff cannot fill the gap for you: the Western District of Louisiana states that court employees and bankruptcy judges are prohibited by law from offering legal advice.
- No prediction of discharge, dismissal, or any court decision.
- Coverage gaps are published as gaps, not smoothed over with an estimate.
- General information is not a substitute for advice about your circumstances (Bankr. N.D. Iowa official page — Parties Without an Attorney: Creditors).
Does the sourcing work differently for Chapter 7 and Chapter 13?
The method is identical — the same collection, verification, and validation steps apply to both chapters. What differs is which verified values attach to a page.
Court costs are the clearest illustration. The Chapter 7 filing fee is $245 (28 U.S.C. § 1930(a)(1)(A), (f)(1)), alongside a $78 administrative fee (Bankruptcy Court Miscellaneous Fee Schedule, Item 8, effective December 1, 2023) and a $15 trustee payment (Bankruptcy Court Miscellaneous Fee Schedule, Item 9, effective December 1, 2023). The Chapter 13 filing fee is $235 (28 U.S.C. § 1930(a)(1)(B)), with the same $78 administrative fee (Bankruptcy Court Miscellaneous Fee Schedule, Item 8).
Each of those is a separate stored fact with its own citation, which is why they can differ without any page having to reconcile them by hand. Chapter-specific procedure is sourced the same way: from the Code, the Rules, and the court's own published material.
| Amount | Chapter 7 | Chapter 13 |
|---|---|---|
| Filing fee | $245 — 28 U.S.C. § 1930(a)(1)(A), (f)(1) | $235 — 28 U.S.C. § 1930(a)(1)(B) |
| Administrative fee | $78 — Misc. Fee Schedule, Item 8 | $78 — Misc. Fee Schedule, Item 8 |
| Trustee payment | $15 — Misc. Fee Schedule, Item 9 | Not applicable |
What do people most commonly get wrong about a page like this?
Four misreadings come up repeatedly.
That a cited page is legal advice. A citation shows where a rule is written down. It does not tell you how the rule applies to your facts, and court guidance consistently recommends consulting an attorney about individual circumstances.
That a byline means every line was written by a lawyer for your case. Attribution states editorial responsibility for the standards on this site — nothing more.
That "sources verified" and "last reviewed" mean the same thing. They do not. A sources-verified date records that the figures on the page were checked against canonical values. A last-reviewed date appears only where an attorney review of that page actually happened.
That the newest amendment is automatically in force. The Code's own notes show amendments taking effect on their own stated terms — some on enactment, some after a fixed period, some only for cases commenced after a date (11 U.S.C. § 101, effective-date notes). We record what the source says rather than assuming.
- A verbatim quote is evidence of the text, not an interpretation of it.
- "Commonly" and "generally" are used literally, to describe patterns rather than promise results.
- An absent figure on this site means unverified, not zero.
Frequently asked questions
- How is the legal information on Bankruptcy.law verified?
- Each figure is checked against the primary source that publishes it before it becomes publicly readable, and is stored with that citation, a source link, and a verification date. Pages read those verified values rather than repeating numbers written in prose. A page whose figures or citations do not match its own source packet is not published.
- Who reviews the content, and is it written by an attorney?
- Bankruptcy.law is published by Antonio G. Jimenez, Esq., Florida Bar No. 21022, who owns the platform, set these editorial standards, and approved the source corpus. Pages are drafted against a verified source packet and validated before publishing. Where an attorney review of a specific page has taken place, that page carries a "last reviewed" date; where it has not, it does not.
- When was this page last updated?
- Every page shows a "sources verified" date, which records when the figures on it were checked against canonical values. That is the date to look at. Pages that have additionally been through attorney review show a separate "last reviewed" date. The two lines mean different things and are deliberately not combined.
- What sources does this site use?
- Primary sources only: the Bankruptcy Code in title 11, related provisions such as 28 U.S.C. § 1930, the Federal Rules of Bankruptcy Procedure, local bankruptcy rules, the Bankruptcy Court Miscellaneous Fee Schedule, and guidance published by the bankruptcy courts. Secondary commentary is not used to establish a legal rule. Each page lists the sources behind it.
- What happens if there is no verified figure for my state or district?
- The page says so and stops there. Local rules and practices differ by district, and we do not publish a figure for every one of them. An absent value is treated as unknown, never as zero and never as a national average. You can look up your own court through the courts directory on this site.
- Is any of this legal advice?
- No. Bankruptcy.law is an information platform, not a law firm, and it does not represent anyone or advise on individual cases. Courts publish similar cautions about their own material: the Northern District of Iowa states its information is general and should not be relied upon for individual circumstances or taken as legal advice.
- How often are the sources re-checked?
- On a published cycle rather than when someone notices a problem. A re-check that finds the source unchanged advances its verification date. A re-check that detects a change does the opposite: it opens a human review, because a detected change is not a verified value until a person has read it.
Sources
- Fed. R. Bankr. P. 1001 — Scope; Title; Citations; References to a Specific Form
- 11 U.S.C. § 521 — Debtor's duties · official source
- 11 U.S.C. § 527 — Disclosures · official source
- 11 U.S.C. § 101 — Definitions, including effective-date notes for amendments · official source
- Fed. R. Bankr. P. 9001 — Definitions
- Bankr. D. Md. official page — Legal Overview
- Bankr. W.D. Ky. official guidance — Filing Without an Attorney
- Bankr. W.D. La. official page — Don't Have an Attorney
- Bankr. W.D. La. official page — FAQs
- Bankr. N.D. Iowa official page — Parties Without an Attorney: Creditors
- W.D. Tenn. LBR 1001-2
- M.D. Ga. LBR 9001-1
- 28 U.S.C. § 1930(a)(1)(A), (f)(1)
- 28 U.S.C. § 1930(a)(1)(B)
- Bankruptcy Court Miscellaneous Fee Schedule, Item 8
- Bankruptcy Court Miscellaneous Fee Schedule, Item 9
By Antonio G. Jimenez, Esq. · Florida Bar No. 21022
Sources verified July 27, 2026 · How we verify
Every figure on this page is drawn from a primary legal source and checked against our canonical legal database before publication. Bankruptcy.law is not a law firm and does not provide legal advice.
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