William Shocinski

UNITED STATES BANKRUPTCY COURT
DISTRICT OF MINNESOTA
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In re: 	Case No. 26-31371
William Shocinski, 	Chapter 11
Debtor.
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ORDER DISMISSING CASE
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This case is before the court 1 on its own initiative. On April 27, 2026, Attorney Yury
Suponitsky, I, initiated this case by filing a “Chapter 11 Voluntary Petition for Individuals”
through CM/ECF which automatically generated a case number and started this bankruptcy
case. What was filed as the petition was actually the List of Creditors who have the 20 Largest
Unsecured Claims, which is Official Form 104, and is required to be filed with the petition under
Fed. R. Bankr. P. 1007(d). No petition was filed and nothing has been filed as of the time of this
order.
Pursuant to 11 U.S.C. § 301, a voluntary case is “commenced by the filing with the
bankruptcy court of a petition. . .” (emphasis added). Fed. R. Bankr. P. 1002(a) has the same
language that a “bankruptcy case is commenced by filing a petition with the clerk.”
Requirements of a petition are also included in Fed. R. Bankr. P. 1005(a). The document filed
with the court captioned on the docket as the voluntary petition does not meet the requirements
of Fed. R. Bankr. P. 1005(a)(2), (a)(3), or (a)(5) at a minimum. Fed. R. Bankr. P. 9009(a)
requires the use of the Official Forms in bankruptcy cases. Official Form 101 is the Voluntary
Petition for Individuals Filing for Bankruptcy; the Debtor did not use this form to commence this
case.
1 This case was reassigned to the undersigned judge on April 28, 2026. Judge Katherine A. Constantine certifies
familiarity with the record and determines that the case may be completed without prejudice to the parties pursuant to
Fed. R. Bankr. P. 9028, which makes applicable Fed. R. Civ. P. 63, to the extent such certification is required.
Case 26-31371 Doc 4 Filed 04/28/26 Entered 04/28/26 15:23:19 Desc Main
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Although this case was commenced and a case number was assigned, the Debtor did
not meet the requirements to file this case and the filing is considered void ab initio. See In re
Ryan, 10-83346, 2010 WL 4608277, at *1 (Bankr. C.D. Ill. Nov. 4, 2010). See also In re Deuel,
594 F.3d 1073, 77 (9th Cir.2010) (the petition and only the petition commences a bankruptcy
case); In re Castro, 158 B.R. 180, 183 (Bankr.C.D.Cal.1993) (the filing of a voluntary petition,
not the schedules, commences the case).
Based on the record,
IT IS ORDERED:
This case is dismissed.
Dated: 	___________________________________
Katherine A. Constantine
Chief United States Bankruptcy Judge
V.DWKHULQH$&RQVWDQWLQH	April 28, 2026
Case 26-31371 Doc 4 Filed 04/28/26 Entered 04/28/26 15:23:19 Desc Main
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