Emailing 341 Notice to Debtor's Attorneys
Effective Monday, June 6, 2011, the Bankruptcy Noticing center (BNC) will begin sending the debtor's attorney an email containing a secure hyperlink to the 341 notice in place of printing and sending the notice via the United States Postal Service. This change wil become effective for all courts that use the Case Management/Electronic Case Files (CM/ECF) Reduced Paper Module (RPM) and are on CM/ECF Release 4.1.
Best Practice Forum - July 27, 2011
The second Best Practice Forum will be held July 27,2011, at Noon in Courtroom 2. Current Topics on the agenda include -The new Revised Chapter 13 Plan, Hardship Discharge Orders, Fees -Bill of Costs, and Form B23 -Debtors' Certification of Completion of Postpetition Instructional Course Concerning Personal Financial Management. Go Live Date on New Chapter 13 Plan and Requirement for Form B 23 - Tenatively Scheduled for August 1, 2011 - the Official Form B23 can be downloaded from http://www.uscourts.gov/formsandfees/forms/bankruptcyforms.aspx
Officail Form B23 -
This form will take the place of the copy of the Financial Management Certificate currently filed with the court. Filers are permitted to begin filing Form B23 now. On August 1,2011 Filers will be issued a Notice to Correct if a copy of the Certificate is filed instead of Form B23.
Hardship Discharge -
The granting of a Hardship Discharge does not automatically except the debtor from the filing of Form B23 - Financial Management Certification or the LBF283- Certification of Domestic Support Obligation - Section 522(q). If a Hardship Discharge is granted the order submitted should be in the following format - Unless otherwise instructed by the Judge.
ORDER CONDITIONALLY GRANTING MOTION FOR HARDSHIP DISCHARGE
This matter came on for hearing upon the Debtors' motion for hardship discharge. Due notice of the hearing was given, and appearances were made as
noted in the record. It appears that the court has jurisdiction of this matter, which is a core proceeding. It also appears that the motion is due to be
conditionally granted.
It is there ORDERED that the debtor shall receive a discharge from her debt conditioned upon entry of the Chapter 13 financial management course completion certification and the LBF283 certification regarding domestic support obligation and § 522(q).
Conversion Statements and Schedules
The clerk's office will only wait 14 days for conversion statements and schedules to be filed before issuing the 341 Meeting of Creditors. It will be the responsibility of the attorney or Pro Se debtor to notice any additions to the matrix after the court issues the 341 Meeting of Creditors notice, and file a Certificate of Service with the court as to the creditors noticed in accordance with Local General Order No. 7.
Paper Check Conversion - Over the Counter (PCC OTC).
The court went live with the PCC on March 21,2011. this system was implemented to streamline the collection and reporting of over-the-counter collections. PCC OTC converts personal and business checks into electronic funds transfers. Checks are immediately scanned for electronic deposit. Personal checks are not accepted. The court is keeping the original check until the electronic process is completed with the bank and then they are shredded once the process is complete.
Early Filing of LBF283 prior to the Chapter 13 Trustee's Final Report
The Clerk's office will no longer issue a Notice to Correct if we receive the LBF283 form prior to receiving the Trustee's Final Report. Unless an objection is filed the document will be considered timely filed.
Amended Matrix
When amending a Creditor Matrix - First load the full amended matrix in PDF format under Miscellaneous - Scheds/Statements/Amended Matrix- Amended Creditor Matrix - Note: You must attach the complete Amended Matrix. Second (Addition) - The filer should upload only the amended creditors (additions) by using Creditor Maintenance ...upload creditor matrix file. Third (Deletion) - The court will delete creditor(s) if requested - Miscellaneous - Scheds/Statement/Amended Matrix - 7 - Request for Deletion of Creditor(s). The Request for Deletion of Creditor(s) can only be filed after an Amended Matrix has been filed. The court can not remove any creditor who has already filed a claim, or after confirmation without an order. Fourth (Modification of Address) - The court will modify creditor(s) address if requested - Miscellaneous - Scheds/Statements/Amended Matrix - 8- Request for Modification of Creditor(s) Address. The court will not modify and Creditor Address unless an Amended Matrix and Cumulative Statement have been previously filed.
Entry of Older BK & AP Cases not previously found in CM/ECF
The Clerk's Office will not longer be able to send Cases back to National Archives Federal Records Center (NAFRC). If cases are requested from the NAFRC then the Clerk's Office will be docketing the cases into the CM/ECF systen with the original filing date found in the paper case. We will make every effort to reduce any Notices of Electronic Filing in order to avoid confusion. If an email does to out the Case Administator will docked a Public Entry explaining the new entry in the system.
Closing of the Public Research room at the National Archives Federal Records Center in Atlanta.
On July 1,2011 the Atlanta NAFRC will close its public viewing room. The NAFRC will still provide copies via fax or mail. The fees for copies have also increased. For mor information visit https://eservices.archives.gov/orderonline/start.swe?SWECmd=Start&SWEHo-eservices.archives.gov .
New Event - Request for Audio of Chapter 7/11 Meeting of Creditors
The event will allow the $26 fee required to be paid via pay.gov. Once the request is filed and paid, a notice will be automatically emailed to the Bankruptcy Administrators Office to prepare the recording. The recordings made will be available for pick up at the Clerk's Office.
New Event - Request for Deletion of Creditor(s)
This event will be filed after the filing of the Amended Matrix and Cumulative Statement if the court is to remove a Creditor form the CM/ECF System of Creditor Mailing Matrix. The court will not remove any creditor if: a claim has already been filed by the creditor, or an Amended Matrix, Amended Schedules, and Cumulative statement have not been previously filed, or after confirmation without a signed order.
New Event -8- Request for Modification of Creditor(s) Address
This event will be filed after the filing of the Amended Matrix and Cumulative Statement if the court is to modify the mailing addres of a Creditor on the CM/ECF System Creditor Mailing Matrix the court will not modify any creditor if: Amended Matrix, Amended Schedules, and Cumulative statement have not been previously filed.
Automated Clearing House - Debit (ACH Debit)
The court went live with ACH Debit in CM/ECF on March 28, 2011. This feature allows filers the the option of paying electronically either by credit card or by bank account debit (ACH). Filers may enter the routing number, account number, and check number. This will be extremely helpfulwhen paying quarterly fees in Chapter 11 cases. No personal checks will be accepted.
The court will be upgrading our live System to CM/ECF 4.1 on June 24,2011.
New Features of Version 4.1 -
Automatic Electronic Restriction of Documents. In accordance with the Judicial Conference's September 2010 amended policy on privacy and public access to electronic case files, documents in cases which were filed prior to December 1,2003 will automatically be restricted from view when accessed through PACER. The docket shee will remain available to the general public. There are two exceptionsto the automatic restriction: (1) Parties who filed a notice of appearance in an individual case would not be restricted. (2) Viewing documents from the public computers in the clerk's office is not restricted unless documents are under seal.
Password Security Enhancement -
The court will be going live with the new password security enhancement feature on June 1,2011. Users can start updating their passwords now. When the password security enhancement is turned on, all CM/ECF passwords must be a minimum of 8 characters, and must include both upper and lower case alphabetic character and at least one digit or special character [e.g., 0-9, @,#,$,%,&,*,+,:]. The first time a user logs in after the Password Scurity enhancement is active,the following message will appear if the user's password does not meet the new password requirements: Clicking the link in the message will allow the user to change his password to meet the new standards.