Bankruptcy

NO.  One spouse can file without their spouse.  This situation could arise where all or most of the debt giving rise to the financial difficulties, and therefore the need to consider bankruptcy, is in the name of one spouse.  A non-filing spouse may have excellent credit, and therefore the couple would benefit from the non-filing spouse maintaining his or her good credit for the benefit of them both.  Although subject to anti-abuse considerations, spouses can often strategically time their filings such that they are able to collectively gain more time than they might otherwise have been able to obtain if each spouse files individually.