Legal Question in Bankruptcy in Wisconsin

Bankruptcy Venue for Multi-State Debtors

I would need to research that specific issue, but generally speaking, venue is more flexible in bankruptcy than in other types of litigation, and cases can often be transferred between different districts if venue is ever deemed inconvenient. The situs of the debtors' principal assets, of course, would often be the most convenient venue. U.S. Bankruptcy courts in any venue have broad jurisdiction to hear matters relating to their debtors assets anywhere, including overseas. Whether or not foreign governments will enforce the resulting court orders is a different matter, which often depends upon the existence of international treaties between the concerned countries or a binding arbitration agreement between private international parties to the litigation. Puerto Rico, of course, is a United States territory, which is not much different from an American state for most legal purposes. The separation of a husband and wife has no legal significance in bankruptcy--they are either married or not married and there is no intermediate legal status for parties who are no longer a "couple." Even the filing of a divorce has little or no legal effect until the divorce becomes final, other than as to matters concerning temporary support of the family whiel the case is pending. Being married generally brings the marital estate of both spouses under the jurisdiction of the bankruptcy court if either of them files bankruptcy, particularly in community property states. The non-filing spouse must be listed and processed in the same manner as the filing spouse, except that the non-filing spouse sometimes cannot claim property as exempt or get an official "discharge" of debt. These disabilities often bring disastrous consequences for both spouses in terms of assets being lost to the bankruptcy trustee. It therefore nearly always makes more sense for a married couple to cooperate in filing a joint bankruptcy.