Motion to Lift Stay Sample: Contents, Exhibits, and Filing

A sample motion to lift stay has a predictable skeleton: a bankruptcy case caption, numbered allegations identifying the creditor, the collateral, the lien, the default, and the property’s value, a clear statement of which statutory ground under 11 USC 362(d) supports relief, a prayer asking the court to terminate or modify the stay, and a set of sworn exhibits. File it with the bankruptcy court where the case is pending, pay the $199 fee, and serve it on the debtor, debtor’s counsel, the trustee, and anyone else claiming an interest in the property.¹ Getting the pieces right matters because federal law gives the court only 30 days to act before the stay lifts automatically against your collateral, and a deficient filing burns that clock.

What Goes in the Motion Itself

Every motion is governed by Federal Rule of Bankruptcy Procedure 4001, which routes stay-relief requests through the contested-matter procedures in Rule 9014.² On top of the federal rules, each bankruptcy court imposes local requirements on format, page limits, and proposed-order style. Pull the local rules from the court’s website before you draft; a motion that satisfies every federal rule but ignores the local ones still gets rejected.

Caption and Title

Open with the standard bankruptcy case caption: court name, debtor’s full name, case number, and chapter. Under the caption, use a descriptive title such as “Motion for Relief from the Automatic Stay” so the clerk and the court have no doubt what the filing is.

Numbered Allegations

The body is a series of short, numbered paragraphs. At a minimum, cover:

Identity of the movant and its relationship to the debt (original lender, servicer, assignee).
Description of the collateral. For real property, the street address and legal description. For a vehicle, the year, make, model, and VIN.
The security interest: how it was created (mortgage, security agreement) and its recording information.
Current balance owed, nature and length of the default, and any post-petition arrearage.
The movant’s estimate of the property’s current value, whether the debtor has equity, and the source of the valuation.
The statutory ground for relief and the facts supporting it.

The Statutory Ground

Pick one and plead it clearly. Section 362(d) recognizes four grounds, and the facts drive the choice:

Cause, including lack of adequate protection. The classic case is depreciating collateral with no offsetting payments, replacement lien, or other arrangement giving the creditor the equivalent value of its interest. Cause also covers requests to let non-bankruptcy litigation proceed in another forum.³
No equity plus not necessary for an effective reorganization. A two-part test: the creditor shows the secured debt exceeds the property’s value, then the debtor must prove the property is needed for a confirmable plan. In Chapter 7, the second prong almost always fails because there is no reorganization plan.⁴
Single asset real estate, where the debtor failed within 90 days of filing to either propose a reorganization plan with a reasonable chance of confirmation or begin monthly interest payments at the contract rate.
Serial-filer or scheme situations, which support in rem relief that attaches to the property for two years.

Prayer for Relief

Close with an explicit request asking the court to terminate, modify, or condition the stay as to the specific property described. Some courts also want a statement whether a co-debtor stay applies and whether the movant seeks relief from that stay too.

Exhibits the Court Expects

A motion without supporting documents is the fastest way to earn a denial. Attach:

A complete, legible copy of the promissory note or other debt instrument.
The recorded mortgage or security agreement, plus any assignments showing the chain from the original lender to the current holder.
A payment history or account ledger showing how the arrearage accumulated.
A sworn affidavit or declaration, signed under penalty of perjury by someone with personal knowledge of the creditor’s records, attesting to the debt figures, the default, and the authenticity of the attached documents.
A proposed order for the judge’s signature, specifying the exact relief requested. Many courts require it even when it feels presumptuous; it saves judicial time and ensures the signed order matches what was asked for.

Courts that handle high volumes of stay-relief motions have seen every shortcut and have little patience for incomplete filings.

Check the Debtor’s Filing History First

Before drafting anything, pull the debtor’s PACER history. Congress imposed strict limits on repeat filers that can eliminate the need for a full motion.

If the debtor had one prior case dismissed within the past year, the automatic stay in the new case expires after 30 days unless the debtor asks the court to extend it and proves good faith. The debtor faces a presumption of bad faith when the earlier case was dismissed for failure to file documents, failure to make plan payments, or failure to provide adequate protection.⁴

If two or more of the debtor’s cases were dismissed within the past year, no stay takes effect in the new case at all. The creditor can simply ask the court for an order confirming that the stay never applied. No full motion for relief is needed because there is nothing to lift.

Filing, Fee, and Service

File with the clerk of the bankruptcy court where the debtor’s case is pending. Most courts require electronic filing through CM/ECF. The fee is $199. Three narrow categories carry no fee: motions for relief from the co-debtor stay (not the regular automatic stay), stipulated agreements for stay relief, and motions filed by child-support creditors.¹

After filing, serve the motion, exhibits, proposed order, and any required notice on the debtor, debtor’s counsel, the case trustee, and any other party known to claim an interest in the property. Local rules may add parties, such as a creditors’ committee in Chapter 11.² File a certificate of service afterward stating who was served, when, and how. Without it, the court treats the motion as if it was never served.

What Happens After You File

The statutory clock starts the day of filing. If the court does not act within 30 days, the stay automatically terminates against the collateral described in the motion.⁴ In practice, courts almost always hold at least a preliminary hearing inside that window or enter an order continuing the stay while a final hearing is set.

Where the debtor is an individual, a stricter rule applies: the court must issue a final decision within 60 days of filing unless the parties agree to an extension or the court finds compelling circumstances. If a preliminary hearing is held, the final hearing must conclude within 30 days of it.

Negative Notice

Many courts use a negative-notice procedure. The notice served with the motion gives the debtor and other parties a set window, commonly 21 days, to file an objection. No objection, no hearing: the court can grant the motion on the papers. Clean drafting pays off here, because an airtight motion with no real defense available often resolves without anyone ever walking into court.

Burden of Proof

At a hearing, the burden splits. The creditor must prove the debtor’s equity position. The debtor carries the burden on everything else, including whether the property is necessary for an effective reorganization and whether the creditor is adequately protected. Come prepared on equity with a recent appraisal or broker’s price opinion; a stale or unsupported valuation will not carry the day.

If the court grants relief, the signed order is the only document authorizing foreclosure, repossession, or other non-bankruptcy remedies against the property. Until it is entered, the stay remains in force and any collection activity is unlawful.

A Note for Chapter 13 Cases: The Co-Debtor Stay

Chapter 13 adds a separate stay that protects anyone who co-signed or guaranteed a consumer debt with the debtor. Even if the co-signer never filed bankruptcy, you cannot pursue them while the Chapter 13 case is active.⁵ Relief from the co-debtor stay follows a faster path when the plan proposes not to pay the claim: file a request, and if neither the debtor nor the co-debtor objects in writing within 20 days, the co-debtor stay terminates automatically with no hearing required. The $199 filing fee does not apply to co-debtor stay motions.¹

Practical Drafting Checks

Get a current valuation before you file. For real property, a professional appraisal typically runs several hundred dollars. For vehicles, an industry guide usually suffices. Judges are unimpressed by stale numbers, and the creditor carries the equity burden.

Read the local rules of the specific bankruptcy court. Courts vary on format, briefing page limits, proposed-order style, and whether they require a separate notice of hearing or use negative-notice procedures. The clerk’s website almost always has a motion-practice page, and some courts publish sample forms.

Calendar your deadlines from the filing date. If the court has not acted within 30 days, call the clerk rather than assuming the stay has lifted. The statute says it terminates, but as a practical matter you want a signed order in hand before taking any action outside bankruptcy. A foreclosure sale conducted on the assumption that the stay expired, if the court later disagrees, creates problems that are expensive to fix.

1
United States Courts. Bankruptcy Court Miscellaneous Fee Schedule
2
Legal Information Institute (Cornell Law School). Federal Rules of Bankruptcy Procedure Rule 4001
3
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 11 US Code 361 – Adequate Protection
4
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 11 USC 362 – Automatic Stay
5
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 11 US Code 1301 – Stay of Action Against Codebtor