No, your spouse doesn’t need to sign your bankruptcy papers with you (though they can). You are able to file without your spouse’s involvement. However, because California is a community property state, their financial information still must be disclosed in your bankruptcy papers. For example, in most cases, their income is legally your income, and you have an obligation to list all your income.  Same with debts, assets, and so on. Given that you need to list all your debts, and their debts are yours, it’s foreseeable that the bankruptcy will affect them in some way. But the spouse need not ever sign, appear, testify, nor personally participate, though we understand that they often help out behind the scenes.