Where Should I File My Bankruptcy After Recently Moving?

Hi, this is Roger Ghai and I wanted to answer the question of where I have to file my bankruptcy case if I’ve just recently moved. Sometimes clients call me and they’ve moved from out of state, whether it’s Tennessee, Florida, Alabama or anywhere in the country, and the question becomes, where the bankruptcy case has to be filed. Can it be filed in Georgia or can it be- or does it have to be filed by operation of law in the state where they move from.
The answer is this, it depends on the timing of the filing of the bankruptcy case. The law says that you have to file the bankruptcy case in the jurisdiction where you have resided in for more than 180 days, or for at least the greater part of that 180 days. Let’s just cut through it. What that means is this, in order to file a bankruptcy case in a particular jurisdiction, you will have have to have lived in that jurisdiction for at least 91 days, which is the greater part of the 180 days, in order to be able to file.
If you’ve relocated from California in the last 60 days, in order to be able to file here in Georgia we have to wait 31 more days to be able to have proper jurisdiction and venue here in Georgia. That’s where you have to file the case but interestingly, the exemptions that is the particular amount of property that you can protect will still be governed in that particular scenario by the exemptions of the state of California.
We won’t be able to use the Georgia exemptions in filing the bankruptcy case here. However, don’t worry, it could work out to your advantage because California has much more protection for folks that file there versus that people that file here and who are permanent residents or qualified residents here. If you have questions about where you have to file your bankruptcy case or the timing of the filing of your bankruptcy case, call me in 770-792-1000.