United States bankruptcy courts are courts created under Article I of the United States Constitution. The current system of bankruptcy courts was created by United States Congress in 1978, effective April 1, 1984. United States bankruptcy courts function as units of the district courts and have subject-matter jurisdiction over bankruptcy cases. The federal district courts have original and exclusive jurisdiction over all cases arising under the bankruptcy code, (see ), and bankruptcy cases cannot be filed in state court. Each of the 94 federal judicial districts handles bankruptcy matters.
Technically, the United States district courts have subject matter jurisdiction over bankruptcy matters (see
). However, each such district court may, by order, "refer" bankruptcy matters to the bankruptcy court (see ). As a practical matter, most district courts have a standing "reference" order to that effect, so that all bankruptcy cases in that district are handled, at least initially, by the bankruptcy court. In unusual circumstances, a district court may in a particular case “withdraw the reference” (i.e., take the case or a particular proceeding within the case away from the bankruptcy court and decide the matter itself) under .