What is a joint petition?
A joint petition is the filing of a single petition by an individual and the individual’s spouse. Only people who are married on the filing date may file a joint petition. Unmarried persons, corporations and partnerships must each file a separate case. If you are an individual and have a business which is not a partnership, corporation, or business trust that is a registered entity in a state or foreign country, you should list the business as a “dba” (doing business as) on your petition. However, yours will not be considered a joint petition because the business is not an independently-recognized legal entity.
A joint petition is the filing of a single petition by an individual and the individual’s spouse. Only people who are married as of the date they file may file a joint petition. Unmarried persons, corporations and partnerships must each file separate cases. If you are an individual and have a business, you may not file a single petition for yourself and your business, each must be a separate bankruptcy case.
