Bankruptcy Petition - Chapter 13

CHAPTER 13 FILING WORKBOOK — DISTRICT OF COLORADO

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 Colorado local forms. Transfer verified information to the current Official Bankruptcy Forms and L.B.F. 3015-1.1.

1. Case Information

Colorado is served by the U.S. Trustee Program's Region 19. Confirm the assigned trustee, secure document portal, payment instructions, and virtual or alternative § 341 meeting information from the case notices and current trustee instructions.

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 fee, installment procedure, filing method, 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. Required Filing Package

The court's current Chapter 13 petition packet identifies the required opening forms. Use the current edition of every Official Bankruptcy Form.

☐ 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.

☐ Creditor mailing matrix in the court's current format.

☐ 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.

☐ L.B.F. 3015-1.1 — Chapter 13 Plan Including Valuation of Collateral and Classification of Claims.

☐ Filing fee or current installment application, if applicable.

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

☐ Calendar the post-filing financial-management certificate, L.B.F. 3015-1.6 discharge certification, and all case-specific deadlines.

Fed. R. Bankr. P. 3015(b) and Colorado L.B.R. 3015-1 require the Chapter 13 plan within 14 days after the petition or conversion date unless the court grants appropriate relief.

4. Colorado Plan and Confirmation Forms

Use the local forms for their actual purposes:

☐ Do not call L.B.F. 3015-1.4 the plan or L.B.F. 3015-1.5 the initial plan notice.

☐ File a plan in substantial conformity with L.B.F. 3015-1.1.

☐ If the plan is filed on the petition date, confirm that the court transmitted the plan with the meeting notice. If it is filed later, transmit the plan and completed L.B.F. 3015-1.2 to the trustee, U.S. Trustee, and every party on the creditor matrix.

☐ Serve a creditor under Fed. R. Bankr. P. 7004 when the plan directly affects that creditor's lien or contract rights.

☐ File the completed certificate of service no later than three days after notice or service of the plan or amended plan.

5. Plan Terms Worksheet

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.

Claim Treatment and Analysis

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 provision is stated deliberately; otherwise 11 U.S.C. § 1327(b) supplies the default rule.

6. Objections and Confirmation Workflow

☐ Calendar the objection deadline: current L.B.R. 3015-1 sets it seven days after the originally scheduled § 341 meeting date, unless the court orders otherwise.

☐ If no objection is filed and no amendment is needed, file L.B.F. 3015-1.3 within the window stated in the rule: no earlier than ten days after the meeting date and no later than seven days before the confirmation hearing.

☐ If objections remain or the plan will be amended, use L.B.F. 3015-1.4 and follow the current rule's status-report, amendment, service, hearing, and resolution procedure.

☐ Use L.B.F. 3015-1.5 only if the meeting and confirmation-hearing dates are continued and the rule requires that notice.

☐ Recheck every valuation request. The local plan distinguishes personal-property valuation within the plan from real-property valuation by separate motion, and lien avoidance under 11 U.S.C. § 522(f) requires a separate motion.

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 and transmit sensitive trustee documents only through the approved secure route.

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, notarial acknowledgments, or invented default-and-cure periods. A petition and plan are governed by the Bankruptcy Code, Bankruptcy Rules, Colorado local rules and forms, trustee procedures, and case-specific court orders.

☐ L.B.F. 3015-1.1—not 3015-1.4—is used as the plan.

☐ L.B.F. 3015-1.2—not 3015-1.5—is used for the initial plan notice when required.

☐ U.S. Trustee Region 19 and the assigned trustee are correctly identified.

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

☐ All signatures, service certificates, attachments, and local-form requirements are complete.

Sources and References

• U.S. Government Publishing Office, 11 U.S.C. § 109, § 301, § 362, § 521, § 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, 3015, and 9037.
• U.S. Courts, Official Form 101 and current bankruptcy-forms catalog.
• U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Colorado, L.B.R. 3015-1, mandatory L.B.F. 3015-1.1, Chapter 13 petition packet, and Chapter 13 local forms.
• U.S. Trustee Program, Region 19 and District of Colorado office and § 341 information.