Individuals who have lived in Arizona for at least 91 days prior to filing their bankruptcy case may file in the State of Arizona.  If an individual filing for bankruptcy has not lived in the State of Arizona for the 2 years prior to filing bankruptcy, the individual will be required to use the exemptions for certain property from the state where the individual lived before moving to Arizona.  If an individual has lived in Arizona for the 2 years prior to filing for bankruptcy, the individual may use the exemptions allowed under Arizona state law to exempt the individual’s property listed in the bankruptcy case.

In some cases, individuals may file bankruptcy without their spouses, but is generally unwise and will not fully resolve the couple’s financial issues.  Arizona is a community property state which means that either spouse can sign a contract while married and both spouses are required to pay the debt regardless of whose name is specifically on the contract.  If a spouse has operated a business as a sole proprietorship (not a corporation or LLC), it is considered to be the business of both spouses regardless of whether or not the other spouse had anything to do with the business.  If one spouse files for bankruptcy, creditors may still proceed against the non-filing spouse for collection of debt.  In addition, the spouse filing for bankruptcy will have to declare all income (including that of the non-filing spouse) and might end up in a Chapter 13 bankruptcy case when if both spouses were filing for bankruptcy, they might qualify for a Chapter 7 bankruptcy.