Filing bankruptcy in Colorado, wherever in Colorado you live

Every bankruptcy case filed by a Colorado resident goes to the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of Colorado. The whole state is a single district. There are no separate northern or southern divisions to choose between, and a case does not move courts because you move from Pueblo to Fort Collins partway through.

The courthouse is in downtown Denver, at the U.S. Custom House, 721 19th Street, Denver, Colorado 80202. Most people with an ordinary consumer case never go there. Filing is electronic, and hearings and creditor meetings are held by Zoom.

Where you file is set by federal law, not preference. Under 28 U.S.C. § 1408, you file in the district where you have lived for the greater part of the 180 days before filing. For most Coloradans, that is simply Colorado. For someone who moved here recently, it is a real question, and one I am glad to work through with you.

A Chapter 7 case is assigned to one of a panel of private trustees who review the filing and run the 341 meeting. A Chapter 13 case goes to a standing Chapter 13 trustee who reviews the plan and collects and distributes the monthly payments. Colorado currently has two standing Chapter 13 trustees, Adam M. Goodman and Douglas B. Kiel, and cases are divided between them largely by the county you live in.

Neither kind of trustee is on your side or against you. Their job is to make sure the case complies with the Bankruptcy Code. A well prepared filing draws very little attention, which is the outcome you want, and careful preparation is the part my team and I take on for you.

For most people, the first worry is the home. Colorado requires its residents to use Colorado's own exemptions rather than the federal list, and the homestead exemption protects up to $250,000 of equity in the home you live in, or $350,000 if you, your spouse or a dependent living with you is 60 or older or disabled.

Retirement accounts are protected. So is a defined amount of vehicle equity, household goods and tools of a trade. The exemptions are the same across the state, but home values are not, so the homestead does very different work in Pueblo than in Boulder. The regional pages say more, and Colorado bankruptcy exemptions covers the full list.

The exemptions only belong to you once you have been domiciled in Colorado for 730 days before filing. If you moved here more recently, federal law may point you to the exemptions of the state you came from, which is one of the first things I check for anyone new to Colorado.

Anywhere in the state, because the court is statewide and the whole process can be done from home. The regional pages cover the things that do vary: which county court handles collection lawsuits against you, which IRS housing figure applies, and the kinds of cases I tend to see in each place.

Denver metro, including Aurora, Lakewood, Englewood, Littleton, Arvada, Westminster and Thornton. Northern Colorado, including Fort Collins, Loveland, Greeley, Windsor and Longmont. Colorado Springs and Pueblo, including Monument and Fountain. Boulder County and Broomfield, including Louisville and Lafayette. The High Country and Western Slope, including Grand Junction, Montrose, Durango, Glenwood Springs, Summit County, the Vail Valley, Aspen and Steamboat Springs.

Wherever you live in Colorado, the statewide rules above are the ones that govern your case, and I am glad to help you just the same. When you are ready, the first real conversation is a paid Strategy Session where I look at your actual numbers and we talk through your options. Here is how to set one up, and here is how bankruptcy works if you are earlier than that.