Courts refuse to accept paper bankruptcy petitions

The National Register of Debtors (KRZ) is still not working efficiently. Therefore, attorneys prefer to file consumer bankruptcy petitions on paper. The courts are rebelling.

Recently, the District Court in Opole issued an ordinance concerning the registration of bankruptcy petitions of individuals not engaged in business activities. It is to be effective July 1, 2022. It provides that applications and letters and documents in bankruptcy cases that are filed by professional attorneys and restructuring advisors bypassing the KRZ will have no legal effect. Other courts are beginning to follow a similar practice. They explain this by the fact that attorneys are not included in the rules that allow individuals, due to possible digital exclusion, to file in paper form.

Meanwhile, many attorneys prefer to file paper applications. This is much simpler than registering them in the KRZ. This is because the system still does not work efficiently.

According to experts, there is a loophole in the law that allows attorneys to bypass the obligation to use the KRZ and file paper applications on behalf of debtors-consumers. As a result, court secretariats have a lot of work to do, because they have to enter such motions into the KRZ by hand. Generally, filing paper applications was supposed to be an exception. Thanks to this solution access to justice was also guaranteed to digitally excluded persons. However, now paper applications for consumer bankruptcy are the dominant practice.

Source: https://www.prawo.pl/prawnicy-sady/wniosek-o-upadlosc-tylko-elektronicznie,515757.html