Bankruptcy Courts To Strictly Enforce Geographical Boundaries of Flo...

Bankruptcy debtors are supposed to file bankruptcy where they live. The Florida bankruptcy court system is divided into divisions where each division (e.g., Orlando Division, Tampa Division, Miami Division….) handles bankruptcy filings of debtors residing in counties assigned to each division. The Division filing system has not been strictly enforced in the past, but the bankruptcy court in Florida’s Middle District, including the Tampa, Orlando, and Jacksonville Divisions, announced that henceforth no court will accept filings from outside their division boundaries.

For many years I have represented bankruptcy clients from outside the Orlando Division. People as far away as Jacksonville to the north and Sarasota/Tampa to the west have asked me to file their bankruptcy cases in Orlando bankruptcy court. I do not market for clients outside Orlando area but I have accepted those far-away clients upon request.

Most of my out-of-division bankruptcy clients have come from Volusia County which had been part of the Jacksonville Division. Even through cities in southern Volusia such as Deltona or Deland are much closer to the Orlando court than to Jacksonville’s court these cities had been part of the Jacksonville Division. This is changing. Volusia County is being moved to the Orlando Division so that these bankruptcy debtors can file bankruptcy in the court closest geographically to their residence. However, I and other Orlando bankruptcy attorneys will no longer represent any client from Florida’s west coast or any other area beyond the official boundaries of the Orlando bankruptcy division.

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