Below are some suggested tips for you to try if you have received a filing error message from NextChapter.
1. Has your court recently upgraded to NextGen?
If your court has recently upgraded to NextGen, you will have to link your ECF and PACER accounts prior to filing through NextChapter. The court will prompt you to do so directly upon logging in to their site. Once this is linked, you may try to file again using the software.
Below is an example of the pop-up that might appear. Yours would have a different district named in the body of the text.
One other thing to check if your court has recently upgraded to NextChapter is your ECF username and password that is stored in the software. Please go to Account Settings > My User Profile and double-check that you have upgraded with your new NextGen credentials.
2. Are all outstanding filing fees paid to the court?
If your court is awaiting payment for filing fees on previous cases, they may prohibit any additional activity until the filing fees are paid. You can login directly to ECF and you will be prompted to make payment. Once the payment has been processed, you may try to file again through the software.
3. ECF Credentials Incorrect
You can update your username and password by going to Account Settings > My User Profile. A good way to check that you are using the correct information is to try and login directly to the court's site. If you need additional assistance with invalid username and password errors, you should contact your court directly.
4. ECF Access Denied
When you are newer to filing bankruptcy cases, you will need to obtain bankruptcy filing access from the court. When you login directly to the court's site, the first item in your menu bar should say "Bankruptcy." If you do not have this option in your menu bar, you need to contact the court directly to gain proper access. The screenshot below would be an example of an account lacking bankruptcy filing capabilities:
5. The petition filed but an event code failed
When e-filing through NextChapter, we will file your petition first followed by any event codes that you have attached to be included with your filing. If your petition filed but an event code failed, it is due to one of the following:
You logged directly into the court's site before the filing was complete. Since the court only allows one login at a time, it kicked us out before everything was completed
The connection with the court's site was interrupted. This is rare but with e-filing and cloud based solutions, it does happen.
*Keywords* filing error, error, case didn't file