11 U.S.C. § 301
Section 301 · Voluntary cases
Amended 2 times on record
Applied in 835 court decisions — leading case Ben Cooper Inc Ben Cooper Inc v. Insurance Company of State of Pennsylvania (1990)
Most recently applied in In Re: Soussis (May 2025)
Applied most in the First Circuit Circuit (27 decisions)
Cases citing this section usually also cite 11 U.S.C. § 362 · 28 U.S.C. § 157 · 11 U.S.C. § 101
How often courts cite this section
Court decisions citing this, by year.Markers show enactment, consequential amendments, and circuit splits over this section — watch for a citation surge after a change or a disagreement. The dip in the last several years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so recent citations are undercounted.
(a) A voluntary case under a chapter of this title is commenced by the filing with the bankruptcy court of a petition under such chapter by an entity that may be a debtor under such chapter.
(b) The commencement of a voluntary case under a chapter of this title constitutes an order for relief under such chapter.
Editorial notes U.S. Code · Office of the Law Revision Counsel
Historical and Revision Notes
Sections 301, 302, 303, and 304 are all modified in the House amendment to adopt an idea contained in sections 301 and 303 of the Senate amendment requiring a petition commencing a case to be filed with the bankruptcy court. The exception contained in section 301 of the Senate bill relating to cases filed under chapter 9 is deleted. Chapter 9 cases will be handled by a bankruptcy court as are other title 11 cases.
senate report no. 95–989
Section 301 specifies the manner in which a voluntary bankruptcy case is commenced. The debtor files a petition under this section under the particular operative chapter of the bankruptcy code under which he wishes to proceed. The filing of the petition constitutes an order for relief in the case under that chapter. The section contains no change from current law, except for the use of the phrase “order for relief” instead of “adjudication.” The term adjudication is replaced by a less pejorative phrase in light of the clear power of Congress to permit voluntary bankruptcy without the necessity for an adjudication, as under the 1898 act [former title 11], which was adopted when voluntary bankruptcy was a concept not thoroughly tested.
Amendments
2005—Pub. L. 109–8 designated existing provisions as subsec. (a), struck out “The commencement of a voluntary case under a chapter of this title constitutes an order for relief under such chapter.” at end, and added subsec. (b).
Effective Date of 2005 Amendment
Amendment by Pub. L. 109–8 effective 180 days after Apr. 20, 2005, and not applicable with respect to cases commenced under this title before such effective date, except as otherwise provided, see section 1501 of Pub. L. 109–8, set out as a note under section 101 of this title.