Can you file bankruptcy online if you do not have a lawyer?

What does the federal rule say about filing online?

The rule treats people with lawyers and people without lawyers differently. A filer who has an attorney generally must file electronically. A person without an attorney may file electronically only if a court order or the court's local rule allows it, and can be required to file electronically only by a court order or by a local rule that includes reasonable exceptions.1

The courts' electronic filing system is called CM/ECF. It is used mostly by attorneys and trustees, and some courts permit people who represent themselves to file with it. Filing through it requires a PACER account and special access that each court issues on its own terms.2

That is why a confident yes or no from a website is not reliable here. The only answer that counts is the one your own bankruptcy court gives.

How do you find out what your court allows?

You can usually get the answer from the court's own website or with one phone call.

1. Find your bankruptcy court's website. The federal courts publish a page of links to the individual district and bankruptcy court sites.3
2. Look for a page for people filing without an attorney, a page about electronic filing, and the local rules. Local rules are posted on each court's website and are available at the court's intake counter.4
3. If the website does not settle it, call the clerk's office and ask how a person without a lawyer files a petition in that court. Court employees cannot give legal advice, but how the court accepts documents is a question about procedure.4
4. If the court does allow it, ask how to get access and whether training is offered. Each court issues its own filing access and offers its own training.2

What should you ask the clerk's office?

Courts that open electronic filing to people without lawyers do not all do it the same way. These questions cover the points that most often differ.

• Can the petition that starts the case be filed electronically, or only the documents that come later?
• Is there a separate way for people without lawyers to submit documents online, apart from the attorneys' system?
• Which local forms does this court require in addition to the national forms? Many courts require their own.4
• How are signatures handled on documents sent electronically?
• How is the filing fee paid under each method, and where do paper filings go?

Does signing work differently when you file online?

The duty to sign is the same either way. A person without an attorney must sign every document filed and include an address and telephone number, and the court must strike an unsigned document unless the omission is promptly corrected. When a filing is made through your own electronic filing account with your name on the signature block, that counts as your signature.5 1

A signature carries weight. By presenting a document to the court, on paper or electronically, you certify that after a reasonable inquiry it is not presented for an improper purpose and that its factual statements have support. The court may impose sanctions for a violation.5

What if your court only takes paper from people without lawyers?

Then you file on paper with the clerk of the court in the district where your case belongs. The clerk must not refuse to accept a petition or other paper only because it is not in the required form.1

The method of delivery changes very little about the case. The official forms are free either way, and the same rules, signatures and deadlines apply. People who file without a lawyer are expected to follow the Bankruptcy Code, the federal bankruptcy rules and the court's local rules whichever way the papers arrive.4

What does affect a case is whether the paperwork is complete and on time. If an individual does not file all of the required information within 45 days after filing the petition, the case is automatically dismissed on the 46th day unless the court has allowed more time.6