Proper Venue in a bankruptcy case

Venue determines the location of the court where the lawyers of the Pacific Bankruptcy Center will file your bankruptcy case. The venue provisions in the bankruptcy code (as amended in 1984) in San Diego made relatively few changes from the law found under the former law. The district court for the Southern District of California is now referred to, rather than the San Diego bankruptcy court, and certain statutory language has been improved. The most significant change is that 28 United States Code § 1477 is no longer valid law. That section permitted the San Diego Divisional Office of the bankruptcy court to retain an improperly filed case or proceeding in the interest of justice and upon motion of lawyers for the Pacific Bankruptcy Center or others based on convenience.

Venue raises considerations not only of where a petition commencing a bankruptcy case under the Code must be filed by debtors bankruptcy lawyers, but also the proper place for the filing of a pleading initiating a proceeding arising in or related to the bankruptcy case. As a matter of terminology, only the bankruptcy case itself is properly referred to as a case; all other actions and litigation will be proceedings, whether Part VII of the bankruptcy Rules applies, as in the case of an adversary proceeding, or whether the proceeding is simply a contested matter under bankruptcy Rule 9014.

The basic rule for commencement of a bankruptcy case in San Diego is set forth in 28 United States Code § 1408. A bankruptcy case may be commenced in the district court for a district in which the domicile, residence, principal place of business of the debtor, or principal assets of the debtor have been located for a longer portion of the 180 days before filing, or for the 180 days prior to filing, in for the district in which there is a pending case concerning the debtor's affiliate, general partner, or partnership. In San Diego, this would be the United  States District Court for the Southern District of California

San Diego Bankruptcy Courts

United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of California
http://www.casb.uscourts.gov/
Jacob Wienberger United States Courthouse
325 W. F Street
San Diego California, 92101-6988
(619) 557-5620

 

California Southern District Court
http://www.casd.uscourts.gov/
4290 Edward J. Schwartz
United States Courthouse
940 Front Street
San Diego, CA 92101

 

California Southern District Court El Centro Divisional Office
760-370-1742
United States Courthouse, 1st Floor
2003 West Adams Avenue
El Centro, CA 92243

 

Ninth Bankruptcy Circuit Court of Appeals
http://www.ca9.uscourts.gov/
415-355-8000
James R. Browning
United States Courthouse
95 Seventh Street
San Francisco, CA 94103-1518
 

Central California Bankruptcy Court
213-894-3188
http://cacb.uscourts.gov/
Edward R. Roybal Federal Bldg
and Courthouse
255 East Temple Street
Los Angeles, CA 90012-3332

Central California Bankruptcy Court Riverside Divisional Office
951-774-1000
3420 Twelfth St.
Riverside, CA 92501-3801

Central California Bankruptcy Court Santa Ana Divisional Office
714-338-5300
Ronald Reagan Federal Bldg and
United States Courthouse
411 West Fourth Street
Santa Ana, CA 92701

 

Central California Bankruptcy Court Santa Barbara Divisional Office
805-884-4800
Federal Bldg
1415 State Street
Santa Barbara, CA 93101-2511

 

Central California Bankruptcy Court Woodland Hills Divisional Office
818-587-2900
Warner Center
21041 Burbank Woodland Hills, CA 91367-6609