For most people living in the Kansas City metro area, bankruptcy cases in Kansas are filed in U.S. Bankruptcy Court at 500 State Avenue, Kansas City, KS.   For people living on the Missouri side, cases in most situations would be filed at the US Courthouse at 400 East 9th Street, Kansas City, MO.  There are some nuances to these general patterns, however.  A person can file either in the place where they have lived the most, or where most of their assets have been located, in the preceding 180 days.

In Kansas, a person can file in any one of the three venues:  Kansas City, Topeka, or Wichita.  A person living in Missouri or having the majority of assets in Missouri will need to file in either Kansas City, Springfield, or St. Louis, depending on some venue factors.  But a person can request to have these venues changed by filing a motion with the bankruptcy court.

To file a bankruptcy case in Kansas, a debtor must have resided in Kansas (or had the majority of his/her assets) the greater part of the 180 days prior to filing their case.  If a debtor has resided in Kansas for a little over three months (or had the majority of their assets in Kansas for a little over three months), they can file their case in Kansas.  To use the Kansas exemptions, there is a time residency requirement in Kansas.  In practice, this is usually not a big deal, because even if someone can’t use the Kansas exemptions, they can use the federal exemptions, which are normally favorable.

To explore these issues further, please contact us at Phillips & Thomas LLC for a free consultation.  These venue issues can become complicated, and it is never a good idea to jump to conclusions without getting specific legal advice for a bankruptcy filing in Kansas or Missouri that is tailored to your specific situation.

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