There are different eligibility requirements under the various chapters of bankruptcy. Eligible consumers and businesses can file under Chapter 7 and Chapter 11. Only family farmers are eligible to file under Chapter 12, and only individuals are eligible to file under Chapter 13.

Chapter 7 Eligibility

* The debtor must be an individual, married couple, partnership or corporation.

* The debtor must reside or have a domicile, a place of business, or property in the United States or a municipality.

* Relief is available under Chapter 7 irrespective of the amount of the debtor's debts, whether the debtor is solvent or insolvent.

* An individual may not file a petition under Chapter 7, or any other chapter, if during the preceding 180 days a prior bankruptcy petition was dismissed due to the debtor's willful failure to appear before the court or comply with orders of the court or if the debtor requested the dismissal after a creditor asked for relief from the automatic stay.

* The debtor must not have obtained a discharge of debts under Chapter 7 or Chapter 13 in a case begun within the past six years. If the debtor obtained a Chapter 13 discharge in good faith after paying at least 70 percent of the debtor's unsecured debts, the six-year bar does not apply.

* The debtor must not be seeking to "substantially abuse" the relief provided by a Chapter 7 Discharge, such as when a debtor has a financial status that prevents the debtor from making payments on the remaining monthly debts after the debtor has paid monthly expenses for necessities.

Chapter 9 Eligibility

* Only a municipality may file for relief under Chapter 9.

* The municipality must be "insolvent" in that it is generally not paying its debts as they become due unless those debts are the subject of a genuine dispute and the municipality is unable to pay its debts as they become due.

* The municipality must desire to implement a plan to adjust its debts.

Chapter 11 Eligibility

* Corporations, partnerships, limited liability companies, business trusts, unincorporated associations and other persons with a residence, domicile, place of business or property located in the United States are eligible to file a Chapter 11 case, if they are eligible to file a Chapter 7 case.

* However, stockbrokers and commodity brokers may be Chapter 7 debtors, but they may not be Chapter 11 debtors.

* Railroads may be Chapter 11 debtors, but they may not be Chapter 7 debtors.

* Municipalities, banks, and insurance companies may not be Chapter 7 or 11 debtors. However, holding companies for banks or insurance companies may be Chapter 7 or 11 debtors and municipalities may be Chapter 9 debtors.

* An individual may file under Chapter 11, whether or not the individual is engaged in a business.

* A debtor need not be insolvent or even unable to pay its debts when due in order to file a voluntary Chapter 11 case. A debtor's inability to pay debts as they become due may be relevant if a debtor contests an involuntary petition filed against it.

* While an individual Chapter 7 debtor must wait at least six years between Chapter 7 cases in order to obtain a second Chapter 7 discharge of its debts, there is no similar statutory limitation on a Chapter 11 debtor obtaining successive discharges in Chapter 11 cases.

Chapter 12 Eligibility

* The debtor must be a family farmer with "regular annual income." The purpose of this requirement is to ensure that the debtor's annual income is sufficiently stable and regular to permit the debtor to make payments under a Chapter 12 plan.

* An individual, an individual and spouse, a partnership or a corporation may be eligible to file as a "family farmer."

Chapter 13 Eligibility

* The debtor must be an individual except stockbrokers and commodity brokers may not file a Chapter 13 petition. A business, even a sole proprietorship, may not file for Chapter 13 bankruptcy.

* The debtor must have regular income greater than the debtor's reasonable living expenses.

* The debtor must not have excessive debt. Consumers with debts in excess of the Chapter 13 debt limits and businesses can file for Chapter 11.

Copyright 2006 LexisNexis, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc.