Where to File for Bankruptcy: Understanding Residency Requirements

Welcome to this analysis, which is critical for any debtor considering filing for bankruptcy: residency requirements. As a bankruptcy attorney with more than two decades of experience in bankruptcy law, I can confirm that planning ahead and having a strategy is one of the most significant decisions that could affect protecting your assets. This post expands on the concepts discussed in my recent video (available below), providing a deeper look at the issue of residency and relocation when it comes to filing for bankruptcy.

By Alexander Hernandez, J.D., Professor, and Author of Consumer Bankruptcy Law (Routledge).

Updated on December 1, 2025.

Residency, Jurisdiction, and the State Law Advantage

The general principle of residency in law is strict and well established. For example, you cannot relocate to a state for a few days to file for divorce if you’ve been a resident of another state for years.

• State Residency: Most states impose a minimum six-month residency requirement for many legal actions, and some require up to a year. Interestingly enough and rare, Alaska has a minimal two-day requirement.
• Jurisdiction: Separate from residency, a court must have jurisdiction, the legal authority to rule on a matter. A bankruptcy court’s jurisdiction over a person is tied to where they live or where their principal assets are located.

When it comes to bankruptcy, the location of filing is critical because it dictates which state’s laws govern the protection of your assets (your exemptions). Unlike other areas of law, bankruptcy law allows, under the Bankruptcy Code (Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act), for a delayed application of new state exemption laws.

The 180-Day and 730-Day Rules: Determining Which Bankruptcy Exemptions Apply

The most common misunderstanding involves the two distinct residency rules that determine which set of state laws you can use:

In that case, if you live in Georgia, just because you work in Florida still means you have to apply the exemptions of Georgia, which are not as generous as Florida’s homestead exemption. Georgia’s homestead exemption is $21,500. For that reason, more Chapter 13 bankruptcies are filed in Georgia than in Florida.

The 180-Day Rule (The Filing Window): You must be a resident of the state for the greater part of the 180 days (or 91 days) immediately preceding the date of filing. This rule simply determines where you can file your petition.

The 730-Day Rule: This is the more powerful rule. To use a state’s specific set of exemptions (which protect your property), you must have resided in that state for the entire 730 days immediately preceding the filing date.

Professor’s Note: If you have not met the 730-day requirement in the new state, the Bankruptcy Code requires that you to use the exemption laws of the state where you resided for the greater part of the 180 days preceding the 730-day period.

Case Study: Florida vs. Georgia Exemptions

The best way to understand the issue of exemptions and residency requirements is with an example involving two states.

Feature	Florida	Georgia
Homestead Exemption	Unlimited (must meet 1,215-day rule)	$21,500 (single filer)
Motor Vehicle Exemption	$5,000	$5,000

Consider a common scenario when relocating between Northern Florida and Southern Georgia:

The Scenario: You sell your Georgia home and move to Florida. You meet the 180-day rule and file for bankruptcy in Florida.

The Result: Because you have not met the 730-day rule in Florida, you must use Georgia’s exemption laws.

This means your home, even though it’s in Florida, is only protected up to Georgia’s modest $21,500$ homestead exemption, rather than Florida’s unlimited protection. This difference explains why Chapter 13 bankruptcies (which allow a debtor to pay off non-exempt equity over time) are more common in states like Georgia than in Florida.

Professor’s Tip: When it comes to residency requirements and homestead protection, the Bankruptcy Code increased the time frame to 1,215 days. All other exemptions are based on the 730-day rule.

Strategic Planning: Timing is Everything

As a professor and author specializing in consumer bankruptcy law, I cannot overstate the importance of strategic pre-filing planning. I experienced this in my own professional practice when I relocated.

During my time practicing bankruptcy law in the Southern District of Florida (Miami), residency issues governed by the 730-day and 1,215-day rules were rarely a concern. However, upon moving my practice to the Middle District of Florida (Jacksonville), a jurisdiction less than an hour from the Georgia state line, the timing of a filing suddenly became a factor, especially when you factor in homestead property as shown in the example above.

Protecting Other Assets: In my classes, I would also compare Texas to Florida since I had a client from Texas for whom I had to file bankruptcy for immediately to take advantage of the motor vehicle exemption.

Texas offers a $7,500 motor vehicle exemption. If you moved from Texas to Florida, you might benefit from filing after 91 days in Florida, but applying the more generous Texas exemption laws to protect your car equity.

Professor’s Note: Florida recently increased its motor vehicle exemption to $5,000, but as recently as 2005, it was only $1,000. This illustrates how important state exemptions are and timing under Florida’s prior exemption amount for vehicles.

In all circumstances, the decision of when and where to file depends entirely on comparing both states’ exemption schemes and how they apply to your specific assets.

Colleges and universities can purchase my bankruptcy law textbook directly from Routledge Publishing. Paralegals and students who are buying single copies can do so via Amazon Books. To access my YouTube channel, click this link.

You can learn more about filing for bankruptcy and the bankruptcy petition via this link. Information on the bankruptcy court system, contact information for trustees, and your state’s exemptions can be found here. The federal bankruptcy exemptions are listed here. The latest version of the 341 Meeting of the Creditors can be found here.

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