In bankruptcy, timing is everything. File too late and creditors can garnish your wages or your bank account or put a lien against any real estate you own. File before you take care of any property that isn’t covered by the Bankruptcy Code’s exemption rules, and you may lose property that you wanted to keep.
Filing too early and can present other problems as well. When you come in for a consultation, we’ll ask you how long you’ve lived in Colorado. You must have lived here for at least 90 days before we can file your petition. If we file before your 90 days runs, then your case might be dismissed for being filed in the wrong place.
Section 1408 of Title 28 of the United States Code states:
Except as provided in section 1410 of this title, a case under title 11 may be commenced in the district court for the district—(1) in which the domicile, residence, principal place of business in the United States, or principal assets in the United States, of the person or entity that is the subject of such case have been located for the one hundred and eighty days immediately preceding such commencement, or for a longer portion of such one-hundred-and-eighty-day period than the domicile, residence, or principal place of business, in the United States, or principal assets in the United States, of such person were located in any other district; or(2) in which there is pending a case under title 11 concerning such person’s affiliate, general partner, or partnership.
Essentially, this means that until you’ve lived here the greater part of 180 days (so, 91 days), you can’t file in Colorado. For most people this isn’t a big problem. If creditors have been harassing you, it may take them awhile to find out where you live or work and they likely won’t have time to file a lawsuit before your 90 days in Colorado runs. If they serve you before that 90 days run, we can help you with how to respond to the lawsuit before we file your petition.
One more thing. If you’ve lived in Colorado for less than two years, then there are things that we have to consider when filing your case. You have to have lived here for the last two years before you can take advantage of Colorado’s exemption rules. Depending on what state you came from, this may or may not be a concern. You may have to use the exemptions from the last state you lived in, or you might have to use the federal exemption rules.