Florida Bankruptcy Districts

• Before you file your own bankruptcy in Florida, familiarize yourself with the structure of the Florida bankruptcy courts. Florida consists of three bankruptcy districts: the Middle District, Southern District and Northern District. The Florida county you live in determines the district in which you must file your case. For example, residents of Duval County are a part of the Florida Middle Bankruptcy District, with court locations in Fort Meyers, Tampa, Jacksonville and Orlando. Once you determine the correct courthouse for your petition, visit your local bankruptcy clerk and get a copy of all the necessary forms to file bankruptcy on your own.
  
  

Florida Local Rules

• If you familiarize yourself with the federal rules of bankruptcy procedure, you are only halfway there in terms of filing your own Florida bankruptcy. Local rules play a large role in bankruptcy cases, and each district in Florida has its own set of local rules. Certain courts may require special forms for various motions or other legal filings, and most want the bankruptcy petition in a certain order. If you don't learn and follow your court's local rules, your case may face dismissal instead of discharge.
  
  

Florida Bankruptcy Qualification

• As in any other state, if you want to file Chapter 7 bankruptcy in Florida, you must first qualify. However, in Florida you must use Florida income data, and not that of any other state. The reason for the qualification tests is that the court wants debtors who can afford it to make payments to creditors in a Chapter 13 plan, rather than escaping with no payments in a Chapter 7 case.
  
  The U.S. Trustee publishes a list of median incomes by state, and as a Florida resident you must compare your income to the Florida median income. If you have an annual income of $50,000 and the median for a family of your size in Florida is only $45,000, you will usually have to file Chapter 13 bankruptcy instead of Chapter 7. The court may also disqualify you from Chapter 7 if you have enough disposable income to repay at least a portion of your debts.
  
  

Florida Bankruptcy Exemptions

• While you make restitution to creditors through cash payments in a Chapter 13 plan, in a Chapter 7 plan you may have to forgo some of your assets instead. If you live in Florida you can keep the assets specified by the Florida bankruptcy exemptions, some of which are quite generous. For example, in Florida you can keep almost any homestead in a Chapter 7 case regardless of value. If the value of one of your assets exceeds the Florida exemption amounts, your bankruptcy trustee will most likely liquidate it.