United states bankruptcy court northern district of florida

From Ballotpedia

The United States Bankruptcy Court, Southern District of Florida is the United States bankruptcy court in Florida that is associated with the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida.

One of 90 such courts, it handles bankruptcy cases brought under Chapters 7, 11, 12, 13 and 15. In the United States, bankruptcies are always filed through bankruptcy courts, which are all units of the United States District Courts; however, property rights and exemptions are governed by the applicable state law.[1]

Judges

Each bankruptcy judge is a judicial officer of the U.S. District Court to which he or she is assigned. They constitute the bankruptcy court for their respective districts.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for each circuit is in charge of appointing the district court bankruptcy judges to renewable fourteen-year terms. The Southern District of Florida falls under the Eleventh Circuit. The number of bankruptcy judgeships is determined by Congress. Congress receives periodic advice on the number of bankruptcy judges needed from the Judicial Conference of the United States.

Jurisdiction

Bankruptcy courts are divided by the counties they cover. The counties in the Southern District of Florida represent the southeast shore and the extreme southern tip of the state.

Types of bankruptcy

Jurisdiction of offices within the Southern District

There are six broad types of bankruptcy in the United States. The southern District of Florida hears cases on five of those:

• Chapter 7: "Liquidation," in which the debtor's assets are sold and the proceeds are distributed to creditors

• Chapter 11: "Reorganization," usually of corporations and partnerships

• Chapter 12: Bankruptcy for family owned farms and fisheries

• Chapter 13: "Adjustment" of an individual's debts with time, usually three to five years, to repay creditors

• Chapter 15: "Cross-border Insolvency," a new section of the code added in 2005 under the Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act in order to bring U.S. law into compliance with international law and allow for addressing bankruptcy for individuals with property and assets in more than one country[1]

Process

The following is the process for filing bankruptcy in the Southern District of Florida's U.S. bankruptcy court:

• Generally, once an individual, a couple, or a corporation files for bankruptcy, creditors are notified and the debtors receive an automatic "stay," preventing any further collections attempts or wage garnishments.

• Much of a bankruptcy procedure is administrative, and under some forms of bankruptcy the applicant may not go before the judge.

• The officer of the court who handles to details of the case and works with debtors is the trustee assigned to the case.

• One meeting that is part of all bankruptcies and that debtors are required to attend is a "341," the shorthand term for a meeting held under Section 341 of the bankruptcy code, in which the debtor must go before his creditors to answer questions about his assets and property.[2]

Bankruptcy filings

Below is a trend line following total filings in the Southern District of Florida from 2001 to 2010. The number of filings fluctuated during this decade, reaching a peak of 36,468 in 2005 and dramatically dropping to a low of 7,801 in 2006.
[3]

Such dramatic changes in 2005 and 2006 are attributable to changes in bankruptcy laws which took effect in October 2005. These changes reduced the scope of relief when filing bankruptcy and required consumers to undergo credit counseling before filing. As such, the 2005 spike is attributable to a rush of early filers attempting to file before the law took effect. Conversely, the 2006 drop can be attributable to the imposed difficulties of the law, as well as to the rush of people and businesses filing early in 2005.[4] Nationally, filings fell 71% from 2005 to 2006, hitting what was at the time an 18-year low.[5]

Opinions

Bankruptcy opinions are not collected and published in an official government reporter, as some courts do. Rather, the de facto official publication of bankruptcy opinions is West's Bankruptcy Reporter, a Thompson West publication.

Opinions are also searchable online on the Southern District's page.

Courthouse

The United States Bankruptcy Court, Southern District of Florida is located in the Claude Pepper Federal Building in Miami, Florida. The building was designed in 1961 by architects Steward-Skinner Associates and engineers Charles Giller Associates under contract for the General Services Administration. The building was constructed in 1964 and was named after the influential former Democratic Florida congressman, Claude F. Pepper.

According to the National Archives and Records Administration: "The building houses employees of several agencies, including the U.S. Bankruptcy Court, Department of Veterans Affairs, Social Security Administration, and U.S. Marshals Service. Like many of its contemporaries, little distinguishes the structure from modern office buildings that can be seen in many American cities, nor does the design give hints that this is a federal building."[6]

Bankruptcy court districts

US Bankruptcy Courts are divided into three districts in Florida:

• Northern District of Florida
• Middle District of Florida
• Southern District of Florida

Contact information

United States Bankruptcy Courts in Florida

Broken down by districts

Click the state for more on bankruptcy courts!

External links

• Southern District of Florida bankruptcy court
• Official Site of the U.S. Bankruptcy Courts
• The Bankruptcy Bar Association of the Southern District of Florida

Footnotes

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 United States Courts, "Bankruptcy Courts," accessed May 20, 2015
2. ↑ United States Code, "Title 11 - Bankruptcy," accessed May 20, 2015
3. ↑ United States Courts, "Bankruptcy Statistics," accessed April 28, 2011
4. ↑ American Bankruptcy Institute, "First quarter bankruptcy filings fall to lowest levels since 1985," May 26, 2006
5. ↑ Total Bankruptcy.com, "Bankruptcy Filings Hit 18-Year Low, but is it Good News?" April 18th 2007
6. ↑ US Archives, "1960s Modern Federal Buildings: Office Building, Miami, Florida," accessed May 20, 2015

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Terms	Chief Judge, U.S. Bankruptcy Court