28 U.S.C. § 157 — Procedures

(a) Referral. Each district court can decide that any or all bankruptcy cases, and any or all related proceedings, get sent to that district's bankruptcy judges. (b) Core proceedings. Bankruptcy judges can hear and decide every bankruptcy case, and every "core proceeding," referred to them under subsection (a). They can issue orders and judgments, but those are subject to review under section 158. Core proceedings include, but are not limited to: matters about running the bankruptcy estate; deciding whether to allow claims or exemptions, and estimating claims for confirming a payment plan, except this does not cover estimating personal injury or wrongful death claims for distribution purposes; counterclaims the estate brings against people who filed claims against it; orders about getting credit; orders to turn property over to the estate; recovering "preference" payments, which are payments that unfairly favored one creditor; motions to stop, cancel, or change the automatic stay that pauses creditor actions; recovering fraudulent transfers; deciding whether particular debts can be discharged, meaning wiped out; objections to a debtor's overall discharge; deciding how valid, how big, or how high-priority a lien is; approving payment plans; approving the use, lease, or sale of estate property, including using cash held as collateral, except sales involving claims the estate is bringing against people who have not filed claims of their own; other matters affecting how the estate's assets are liquidated, or the relationship between debtors, creditors, and equity holders, except personal injury or wrongful death claims; and recognizing foreign bankruptcy proceedings under chapter 15. The bankruptcy judge decides — on the judge's own initiative or a party's timely request — whether a matter is a "core" proceeding or is instead just "related to" a bankruptcy case. The judge cannot decide something is not core just because state law might affect the outcome. Non-core proceedings under section 157(b)(2)(B) are not subject to the mandatory abstention rule in section 1334(c)(2), a rule that otherwise forces a federal court to let certain state-law issues go to state court. The district court must have personal injury and wrongful death claims tried in the district court — either the one where the bankruptcy case is pending, or the district where the claim itself arose, whichever the district court handling the bankruptcy case decides. (c) Non-core, related proceedings. A bankruptcy judge can still hear a matter that is not "core" but is related to a bankruptcy case. In that situation, the bankruptcy judge sends proposed findings of fact and legal conclusions to the district court. The district judge then issues the final order or judgment, after considering those proposed findings and reviewing, from scratch, any part a party specifically and promptly objected to. But if every party agrees, the district court can instead let the bankruptcy judge fully decide the related matter and issue the final order or judgment — again subject to review under section 158. (d) Withdrawing a case. The district court can take back, in whole or in part, any case or proceeding it referred to a bankruptcy judge — on its own initiative or a party's timely request, for good reason. The district court must withdraw a matter, if a party timely asks, when deciding it would require weighing both bankruptcy law and other federal laws that regulate businesses or activities affecting interstate commerce. (e) Jury trials. If a matter that a bankruptcy judge can hear under this section also carries a right to a jury trial, the bankruptcy judge can run that jury trial — but only if the district court has specially authorized the bankruptcy judge to do so, and only with every party's express agreement.