The bankruptcy course certificate loses its filing deadline on December 1.

The certificate deadline disappears on December 1, 2026

On December 1, 2026, the bankruptcy rules will stop setting a deadline for filing the personal financial-management course certificate. The change applies to Rule 1007(c)(4), which until that date sets different filing deadlines for Chapter 7, Chapter 11 and Chapter 13 cases.

The Supreme Court adopted the amendments on April 8, 2026. Chief Justice John G. Roberts, Jr. transmitted them to Congress the same day under 28 U.S.C. § 2075. The order says the amendments take effect December 1, 2026, and govern bankruptcy cases commenced after that date and, "insofar as just and practicable," proceedings then pending. Under the Rules Enabling Act process, they take effect on that date unless Congress acts otherwise.

The Judicial Conference approved the proposals at its September 2025 session. The Committee on Rules of Practice and Procedure transmitted them to the Supreme Court on October 16, 2025. The Advisory Committee on Bankruptcy Rules reported them in May 2025.

The package also changes remote testimony in bankruptcy under Rules 9014 and 9017 and new Rule 7043, and changes plan acceptance in Chapter 9 and Chapter 11 cases under Rule 3018. Those amendments are separate from the certificate changes addressed here. (The Docket covered the remote-testimony change separately.)

Rule 1007(c)(4) no longer supplies an earlier filing date

Until December 1, 2026, Rule 1007(c)(4) requires the certificate to be filed within 60 days after the first date set for the meeting of creditors under 11 U.S.C. § 341 in a Chapter 7 case, unless the court extends the time.

In Chapter 11 and Chapter 13 cases, the certificate must be filed no later than the date the last payment is made under the plan or the date a motion for a discharge is filed under 11 U.S.C. § 1141(d)(5)(B) or § 1328(b). The existing rule permits the court to extend those deadlines.

The amendment strikes all of Rule 1007(c)(4). The paragraph will read "[abrogated]."

Rule 9006 changes to match. Until December 1, Rule 9006(b)(3)(B) permits an extension of the Rule 1007(b)(7) certificate deadline only as Rule 1007(c) permits, and Rule 9006(c)(2) bars the court from reducing the time set by Rule 1007(c). Both references to the certificate are deleted because Rule 1007(c) will no longer set a deadline to extend or reduce.

Rule 5009(b) replaces the deadline with two notices

The certificate requirement remains in Rule 1007(b)(7). Unless an approved provider has notified the court that the debtor completed the course after filing the petition, or the debtor is not required to complete one, an individual debtor in a Chapter 7 or Chapter 13 case must file a certificate issued by the provider. The same filing requirement applies in an individual Chapter 11 case in which § 1141(d)(3) applies.

New Rule 5009(b) applies only to individual Chapter 7 and Chapter 13 debtors who must file the certificate.

The first notice comes if the certificate has not been filed within 45 days after the petition is filed. The clerk must promptly notify the debtor that the case "can" be closed without entering a discharge if the certificate is not filed. The rule in force until December 1 uses a different trigger, 45 days after the first date set for the § 341(a) meeting, and says the case "will" be closed if the certificate is not filed within the Rule 1007(c) period.

For Chapter 7, a second notice comes if the certificate has not been filed within 90 days after the petition and the court has not already sent a second notice. The notice must say that the case can be closed without a discharge if the certificate is not filed within 30 days after the notice date.

For Chapter 13, the second notice comes when the trustee files a final report and final account if the certificate still has not been filed. That notice must say that the case can be closed without a discharge if the certificate is not filed within 60 days after the notice date.

While preparing this piece, the desk read the Supreme Court's April 8 transmittal beside the committee's blackline and the pre-amendment Rule 5009(b). That comparison shows both the move from the § 341 meeting date to the petition date and the change from "will" be closed to "can" be closed without a discharge.

The discharge statutes still require the course

The amendments remove the earlier filing deadline. They do not remove the course or the discharge conditions in the Bankruptcy Code.

Section 727(a)(11) bars a Chapter 7 discharge if, after filing the petition, the debtor failed to complete an instructional course concerning personal financial management described in § 111. Section 1328(g)(1) says the court shall not grant a Chapter 13 discharge unless the debtor completed the course after filing the petition. Section 1141(d)(3) applies the same requirement in certain individual Chapter 11 cases.

The statutory exceptions cover debtors described in § 109(h)(4), including debtors with an incapacity, a disability or active military duty in a military combat zone. They also cover debtors in a district where the U.S. trustee or bankruptcy administrator determines that approved courses are not adequate.

The certificate still has to be filed before the court rules on discharge, unless the approved provider has already notified the court of completion. A case can still be closed without a discharge if the certificate is never filed.

Rule 5009(b) does not create a notice schedule for individual Chapter 11 debtors covered by § 1141(d)(3). Those debtors still must file the certificate under Rule 1007(b)(7), but the two-notice process applies by its terms only in Chapter 7 and Chapter 13 cases.

The committee expects fewer cases to close without a discharge

The Committee Note to Rule 1007 explains that the earlier deadlines have been eliminated while retaining the requirement to show course completion through a provider certificate. The note says the certificate "must be filed before the court rules on discharge." The rule no longer imposes an earlier deadline.

The Rule 5009 Committee Note gives the reason for the new notices. The amendment seeks to reduce cases in which a discharge is not issued solely because the certificate was not filed. When that occurs, a debtor otherwise entitled to a discharge must seek to reopen the case, at added cost, to obtain the benefit of the bankruptcy.

Both notices must explain that failure to comply leaves the case subject to being closed without a discharge. The Standing Committee's October 16, 2025 summary memo to the Supreme Court likewise says the changes are intended to reduce the number of individual debtors whose cases are closed without a discharge because they failed to take the course or file documentation showing completion.

Old calendar entries will measure a deadline the rule no longer contains

For cases governed by the amended rule, a calendar entry tied to the Chapter 7 deadline of 60 days after the first date set for the § 341 meeting will no longer track a Rule 1007(c)(4) deadline. In Chapter 13, the last-plan-payment deadline will no longer be the rule's certificate filing deadline.

The operative events will be the clerk's notices. The first notice is tied to 45 days after the petition. In Chapter 7, the next relevant dates are 90 days after the petition and 30 days after the second notice. In Chapter 13, they are the trustee's final report and final account and 60 days after the second notice.

The practical consequence is a shift from a single calendar deadline to a notice-based schedule. Counsel handling open matters will need to distinguish the petition date, the clerk's notice date and, in Chapter 13, the filing of the trustee's final report and final account.

Archivar, which publishes The Docket, is an operating system for law firms that answers every call around the clock in English and Spanish, runs intake, and keeps each matter's dates on record. A clerk's reminder notice can prompt a client to call the firm, sometimes after hours and sometimes in Spanish.

Pending cases will depend on what is just and practicable

The Supreme Court's order applies the amendments to proceedings pending on December 1, 2026, "insofar as just and practicable." Cases filed before that date therefore may be treated differently from court to court. The order leaves that question to each bankruptcy court's judgment of what is just and practicable.

For open Chapter 7 and Chapter 13 cases, practitioners can check how the bankruptcy court applies the transition before replacing existing calendar entries. For cases filed after December 1, the amended Rule 5009(b) schedule supplies the two notices, while Rule 1007(b)(7) and the discharge statutes continue to require completion and filing of the course certificate.

The deadline in Rule 1007(c)(4) goes away on December 1, 2026.

Two clerk's notices take its place in Chapter 7 and Chapter 13 cases.

The course itself, and the certificate that proves it, are still conditions of the discharge.