United States Bankruptcy Courts

United States bankruptcy courts are trial-level courts hearing bankruptcy cases.

Court Of Bankruptcy Definition

A court of record, in England, with jurisdiction in bankruptcy, primary and appellate, and which is declared a court of law and equity for that purpose. The nature of its constitution may be learned from the early sections of the bankrupt law consolidation act of 1849. (This definition of Court Of Bankruptcy is based on The Cyclopedic Law Dictionary).

Legal Materials

Links to court Web sites are posted by the American Bankruptcy Institute and FindLaw. Information about the U.S. bankruptcy systems is posted in the Bankruptcy section of the Federal Judiciary web site. Contact information is available in the Federal Courts Locator.

Bankruptcy court decisions are officially reported in West’s Bankruptcy Reporter. Bankruptcy court opinions are also published in the CCH Bankruptcy Law Reporter, and many bankruptcy courts are posting their opinions on the Internet. Links to courts posting free opinions are available through Cornell’s Legal Information Institute and on FDsys. You can also get bankruptcy court decisions (and other filings) from PACER, Courtlink and other case filing databases (see “Docket Sheets” in this legal Encyclopedia).

For better searching and cleaner printouts, bankruptcy court opinions are available on Lexis, Westlaw and Fastcase. Selected opinions decided since 1979 are available on Loislaw.

Forms: Official Bankruptcy Court forms are published near the Federal Rules of Bankruptcy Procedure in the Rules and Forms appendix to Title 11 of the U.S. Code and in the appendix to Collier on Bankruptcy. In addition, forms are posted on court web sites and on the Federal Judiciary’s Bankruptcy Forms.

See Also

Bankruptcy
Bankruptcy Appellate Panels
Court Clerks / Court Houses
Docket Sheets
Federal Court Rules
Federal Rules of Bankruptcy Procedure
Judges