Bankruptcy Petition - Chapter 13

CHAPTER 13 FILING WORKBOOK — DISTRICT OF ARIZONA

This workbook is an intake and quality-control aid. It is not a petition, a Chapter 13 plan, or a substitute for required national and Arizona local forms. For a case filed on or after June 1, 2026, transfer verified information to the current Local Form 2084-4 (5/26).

1. Case Information

Arizona is served by the U.S. Trustee Program's Region 14. Confirm the assigned trustee, payment address, and virtual or alternative § 341 meeting instructions from the notices issued in the case.

2. Pre-Filing Review

☐ Confirm each proposed debtor is an individual with regular income satisfying the current requirements of 11 U.S.C. § 109(e).

☐ Confirm the debt limits in effect on the filing date. For cases filed on or after April 1, 2025, the adjusted § 109(e) limits are $526,700 in noncontingent, liquidated unsecured debt and $1,580,125 in noncontingent, liquidated secured debt.

☐ Confirm each individual completed approved pre-petition credit counseling within the period required by 11 U.S.C. § 109(h), or document the specific statutory exception or temporary-certification route.

☐ Review all prior bankruptcy cases and obtain advice about dismissal bars and any limitation on the automatic stay.

☐ Confirm venue, joint-filing eligibility, filing location, filing method, filing fee, installment procedure, and signature method using current court instructions.

☐ Collect complete creditor addresses, income records, asset records, secured-loan documents, leases, domestic-support information, tax records, and payment advices.

3. Filing Fee and Opening Package

District of Arizona Local Bankruptcy Rule 1006-1 permits an individual Chapter 13 debtor to apply to pay the filing fee in installments. A fee-waiver application is available only to an individual Chapter 7 debtor; do not attach Official Form 103B to a Chapter 13 petition.

☐ Filing fee in full, or Official Form 103A with the payment required by the current local rule and court instructions.

☐ Official Form 101 — Voluntary Petition for Individuals Filing for Bankruptcy.

☐ Official Forms 106 Summary, 106A/B through 106J-2, and 106Dec.

☐ Official Form 107 — Statement of Financial Affairs.

☐ Official Form 121 — Statement About Your Social Security Numbers, submitted through the court's nonpublic procedure.

☐ Official Forms 122C-1 and, when required, 122C-2.

☐ Official Form 2030 — Disclosure of Compensation of Attorney for Debtor, when represented.

☐ Master mailing list in the Clerk's required format. Local Rule 1007-1 requires the list with the petition and provides a seven-day compliance period; an untimely or improperly formatted list is cause for dismissal without further notice or hearing.

☐ Local Form 1007-1 — Declaration of Electronic Filing, when applicable, by the deadline in the current rule.

☐ Local Form 1007-2 — Declaration of Evidence of Payments.

☐ Local Form 1007-3 — Declaration Under Penalty of Perjury for Debtors Without an Attorney, if applicable.

☐ Credit-counseling certificate and any debt-repayment plan required by 11 U.S.C. §§ 109(h) and 521(b), or the correct certification or exception request.

☐ Payment advices or other evidence of employer payments received during the 60 days before filing, as required by 11 U.S.C. § 521(a)(1)(B)(iv) and Fed. R. Bankr. P. 1007, unless the court orders otherwise.

☐ Current Local Form 2084-4 — Chapter 13 Plan.

☐ Official Form 119 if a bankruptcy petition preparer is involved.

☐ Calendar the post-filing financial-management certificate, discharge-eligibility certificate, and all case-specific deadlines.

Fed. R. Bankr. P. 3015(b) requires the Chapter 13 plan with the petition or within 14 days after filing, unless the court extends the time for cause on the notice it orders.

4. Current Arizona Plan — Local Form 2084-4 (5/26)

The court's Chapter 13 forms page distinguishes the former plan from the plan for cases filed on or after June 1, 2026. Use the fillable Local Form 2084-4 labeled “5/26” for a current case.

☐ Complete every section or mark it “N/A” or “NONE,” as Local Rule 2084-4 requires.

☐ Disclose the treatment of every known secured and priority creditor.

☐ Title a pre-confirmation replacement plan “Amended Plan.”

☐ Title a post-confirmation replacement plan “Modified Plan” and account for prior disbursements.

☐ File the plan with the applicable ECF event so the Clerk or Bankruptcy Noticing Center can effect service.

☐ Put every varying provision only in Section (H), identify the plan provision being changed, state the proposed change and justification, and confirm consistency with the Code and Local Rules. A nonstandard provision placed elsewhere is void.

5. Plan Terms Worksheet

Section (A) — Funding

Under 11 U.S.C. § 1326(a)(1), payments generally begin no later than 30 days after the plan is filed or the order for relief is entered, whichever is earlier, unless the court orders otherwise. Local Rule 2084-18 allows the trustee to designate the payment form and destination.

Sections (C) through (J)

Confirmation Review

☐ Future income is submitted as necessary to trustee supervision and control. See 11 U.S.C. § 1322(a)(1).

☐ Priority claims receive the treatment required by 11 U.S.C. § 1322(a)(2), unless a holder agrees to a lawful alternative.

☐ Each secured claim receives treatment permitted by 11 U.S.C. § 1325(a)(5).

☐ Unsecured creditors receive at least the Chapter 7 liquidation value required by 11 U.S.C. § 1325(a)(4).

☐ The petition and plan are proposed in good faith. See 11 U.S.C. § 1325(a)(3) and (7).

☐ The debtor can make all payments and comply with the plan. See 11 U.S.C. § 1325(a)(6).

☐ Post-petition domestic support obligations and required tax returns satisfy 11 U.S.C. § 1325(a)(8) and (9).

☐ If the trustee or an allowed unsecured creditor objects, the plan satisfies 11 U.S.C. § 1325(b).

☐ The vesting choice is stated deliberately; otherwise 11 U.S.C. § 1327(b) supplies the default rule.

6. Arizona-Specific Chapter 13 Controls

Business Debtors

☐ If the debtor is self-employed or engaged in business, complete Part 11 of Official Form 107 and file Local Form 2084-2 monthly operating reports for every month from the petition month through plan confirmation. See Local Rule 2084-2.

Attorney Fees

☐ Select flat-fee or hourly treatment in the plan and reconcile it with the Rule 2016(b) disclosure. Local Rule 2084-3 currently caps a plan-approved flat fee at $4,500 for a non-business case and $5,500 for a qualifying business case; verify the rule and any order immediately before filing.

☐ Unless the court orders otherwise, pay post-petition attorney fees through the plan and use a separate fee application when the current local rule requires one.

Principal-Residence Defaults

☐ If a consensual, non-HOA security interest in the debtor's principal residence is in default, include conduit payments in the plan unless the court enters an order permitting direct payment.

☐ Unless direct payment has been authorized, complete Local Forms 2084-4A and 2084-4B and serve them on the trustee—not the court—within seven days after the petition date.

☐ Route all post-petition mortgage-payment and interest-rate change documents as Local Rule 2084-4 requires.

Adequate Protection

☐ For depreciating personal-property collateral, place proposed monthly adequate-protection payments in the plan beginning with month one and follow Local Rule 2084-6. Do not privately reduce the plan payment or pay the creditor directly unless the court orders otherwise.

Objection and Confirmation Calendar

☐ Under the rules effective June 1, 2026, the creditor objection deadline is seven days before the initial confirmation hearing or 28 days after service of the plan, whichever is later, subject to the reinstatement provisions in Local Rule 2084-9.

☐ Local Rule 2084-11 requires an initial confirmation hearing in every case, ordinarily 20 to 45 days after the first date set for the § 341 meeting. The debtor, trustee, and any creditor with a timely unresolved objection must attend.

Taxes, Property, and New Debt

☐ Provide tax returns or qualifying tax-return transcripts as required by 11 U.S.C. §§ 521 and 1308 and Local Rule 2084-5.

☐ Do not use the former draft's invented blanket “$1,000” new-debt limit. Follow the consent, motion, certification, notice, and hearing routes in current Local Rule 2084-25 for sales, refinancing, vehicle or home loans, and other new debt.

7. Automatic Stay and Privacy

A voluntary case begins when an eligible debtor files the petition. See 11 U.S.C. § 301. Section 362(a) supplies the general automatic stay, but § 362 contains exceptions and limitations.

☐ Record the date and time the court opened the case and issued the case number.

☐ Confirm the stay's scope before telling a creditor, employer, landlord, or another court that an action must stop.

☐ Review prior cases, eviction matters, domestic-support matters, and criminal proceedings for stay exceptions or limitations.

☐ Apply Fed. R. Bankr. P. 9037 to every public filing. Never place even a partially completed Social Security number in the caption of this workbook or a public pleading.

8. Prohibited Boilerplate and Final Review

Do not add representations and warranties, indemnification, force majeure, integration, assignment, private liability caps, forum selection, arbitration waivers, jury waivers, or invented default-and-cure periods. A petition and plan are governed by the Bankruptcy Code, Bankruptcy Rules, current Arizona Local Rules, official forms, administrative procedures, and case-specific court orders.

☐ The current Local Form 2084-4 (5/26), not the former 12/17 version, is used for a case filed on or after June 1, 2026.

☐ U.S. Trustee Region 14 is identified.

☐ All plan sections, checkboxes, creditor treatments, signatures, and service steps are complete.

☐ Current debt limits, median-income figures, filing fee, trustee information, payment instructions, and attorney-fee limits are verified immediately before filing.

☐ No Chapter 7 fee-waiver request, private payment channel, invented early-payoff right, or copied default-and-cure period appears.

Sources and References

• U.S. Government Publishing Office, 11 U.S.C. § 109, § 301, § 362, § 521, § 1308, § 1321, § 1322, § 1325, § 1326, and § 1327.
• Judicial Conference of the United States, 2025 adjustment notice, effective April 1, 2025.
• U.S. Government Publishing Office, Fed. R. Bankr. P. 1007, 2016, 3015, and 9037.
• U.S. Courts, Official Form 101 and current bankruptcy-forms catalog.
• U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Arizona, Local Rules effective June 1, 2026, Chapter 13 forms, and current Local Form 2084-4.
• U.S. Trustee Program, Region 14 and District of Arizona office.