United States bankruptcy courts are courts created under Article I of the

United States Constitution The Constitution of the United States is the Supremacy Clause, supreme law of the United States, United States of America. It superseded the Articles of Confederation, the nation's first constitution, on March 4, 1789. Originally includi ...

. The current system of bankruptcy courts was created by the

United States Congress The United States Congress is the legislature, legislative branch of the federal government of the United States. It is a Bicameralism, bicameral legislature, including a Lower house, lower body, the United States House of Representatives, ...

in 1978, effective April 1, 1984. United States bankruptcy courts function as units of the district courts and have

subject-matter jurisdiction Subject-matter jurisdiction, also called jurisdiction ''ratione materiae'', is a legal doctrine regarding the ability of a court to lawfully hear and adjudicate a case. Subject-matter relates to the nature of a case; whether it is criminal, ci ...

over bankruptcy cases. The federal district courts have original and

exclusive jurisdiction Exclusive jurisdiction exists in civil procedure if one court has the power to adjudicate a case to the exclusion of all other courts. The opposite situation is concurrent jurisdiction (or non-exclusive jurisdiction) in which more than one cour ...

over all cases arising under the bankruptcy code, (see ), and bankruptcy cases cannot be filed in state court. Each of the 94 federal judicial districts handles bankruptcy matters. Technically, the United States district courts have subject matter jurisdiction over bankruptcy matters (see ). However, each such district court may, by order, "refer" bankruptcy matters to the bankruptcy court (see ). As a practical matter, most district courts have a standing "reference" order to that effect, so that all bankruptcy cases in that district are handled, at least initially, by the bankruptcy court. In unusual circumstances, a district court may in a particular case "withdraw the reference" (i.e., take the case or a particular proceeding within the case away from the bankruptcy court and decide the matter itself) under . The overwhelming majority of all proceedings in bankruptcy are held before a United States bankruptcy judge, whose decisions are subject to appeals to the district court. In some judicial circuits, appeals may be taken to a

Bankruptcy Appellate Panel A Bankruptcy Appellate Panel (abbreviated BAP) is authorized b28 U.S.C. § 158(b)to hear, with the consent of all parties, appeals from the decisions of the United States bankruptcy courts in their district that otherwise would be heard by distric ...

(BAP). The bankruptcy judges in each judicial district in regular active service constitute a "unit" of the applicable

United States district court The United States district courts are the trial courts of the United States federal judiciary, U.S. federal judiciary. There is one district court for each United States federal judicial district, federal judicial district. Each district cov ...

(see ). The bankruptcy judge is appointed for a renewable term of 14 years by the United States Court of Appeals for the circuit in which the applicable district is located (see ). The

Federal Rules of Bankruptcy Procedure The Federal Rules of Bankruptcy Procedure (abbreviated Fed. R. Bankr. P. or FRBP) are a set of rules promulgated by the Supreme Court of the United States under the Rules Enabling Act, directing procedures in the United States bankruptcy courts. ...

(FRBP) govern procedure in the U.S. bankruptcy courts. Decisions of the bankruptcy courts are not collected and published in an official

reporter A journalist is a person who gathers information in the form of text, audio or pictures, processes it into a newsworthy form and disseminates it to the public. This is called journalism. Roles Journalists can work in broadcast, print, advertis ...

produced by the government. Instead, the ''de facto'' official source for opinions of the bankruptcy courts is ''West's Bankruptcy Reporter'', published privately by

Thomson West West (also known by its original name, West Publishing) is a business owned by Thomson Reuters that publishes legal, business, and regulatory information in print, and on electronic services such as Westlaw. Since the late 19th century, West has ...

. Bankruptcy courts appoint a trustee to represent the interests of the creditors and administer the cases. The U.S. TrusteeAbout the United States Trustee Program & Bankruptcy
(Justice.gov via archive.org) appoints Chapter 7 trustees for a renewable period of 1 year, Chapter 13 trustees are "standing trustees" who administer cases in a specific geographic region.

References

External links

* {{Law of the United States Bankruptcy court United States bankruptcy law # 1984 establishments in the United States Courts and tribunals established in 1984