..::Office of Chapter 13 Trustee

NEWS FROM THE TRUSTEE

As news develops, this section will try to keep the Chapter 13 community in the northern portion of the Eastern District apprised of developments on
bankruptcy practice procedure and legislation over the course of time.

October 28, 2011

Bankruptcy Court Miscellaneous Fee Schedule (28 U.S.C. § 1930)

The fees included in the Bankruptcy Court Miscellaneous Fee Schedule are to be charged for services provided by the bankruptcy courts.
	The United States should not be charged fees under this schedule, with the exception of those specifically prescribed in Items 1, 3 and 5 when the information requested is available through remote electronic access.
	Federal agencies or programs that are funded from judiciary appropriations (agencies, organizations, and individuals providing services authorized by the Criminal Justice Act, 18 U.S.C. § 3006A, and bankruptcy administrators) should not be charged any fees under this schedule.
(1)	For reproducing any document, $.50 per page. This fee applies to services rendered on behalf of the United States if the document requested is available through electronic access.
(2)	For certification of any document, $11. For exemplification of any document, $21.
(3)	For reproduction of an audio recording of a court proceeding, $30. This fee applies to services rendered on behalf of the United States if the recording is available electronically.
(4)	For filing an amendment to the debtor's schedules of creditors, lists of creditors, or mailing list, $30, except:
	The bankruptcy judge may, for good cause, waive the charge in any case.
	This fee must not be charged if -
		the amendment is to change the address of a creditor or an attorney for a creditor listed on the schedules; or
		the amendment is to add the name and address of an attorney for a creditor listed on the schedules.
(5)	For conducting a search of the bankruptcy court records, $30 per name or item searched. This fee applies to services rendered on behalf of the United States if the information requested is available through electronic access.
(6)	For filing a complaint, $293, except:
	If the trustee or debtor-in-possession files the complaint, the fee must be paid only by the estate, to the extent there is an estate.
	This fee must not be charged if -
		the debtor is the plaintiff; or
		a child support creditor or representative files the complaint and submits the form required by § 304(g) of the Bankruptcy Reform Act of 1994.
(7)	For filing any document that is not related to a pending case or proceeding, $46.
(8)	Administrative fee for filing a case under Title 11 or when a motion to divide a joint case under Title 11 is filed, $46.
(9)	For payment to trustees pursuant to 11 U.S.C. § 330(b)(2), a $15 fee applies in the following circumstances:
		For filing a petition under Chapter 7.
		For filing a motion to reopen a Chapter 7 case.
		For filing a motion to divide a joint Chapter 7 case.
		For filing a motion to convert a case to a Chapter 7 case.
		For filing a notice of conversion to a Chapter 7 case.
(10)	In addition to any fees imposed under Item 9, above, the following fees must be collected:
	For filing a motion to convert a Chapter 12 case to a Chapter 7 case or a notice of conversion pursuant to 11 U.S.C. § 1208(a), $45.
	For filing a motion to convert a Chapter 13 case to a Chapter 7 case or a notice of conversion pursuant to 11 U.S.C. § 1307(a), $10.
	The fee amounts in this item are derived from the fees prescribed in 28 U.S.C. §1930(a).
	If the trustee files the motion to convert, the fee is payable only from the estate that exists prior to conversion.
	If the filing fee for the chapter to which the case is requested to be converted is less than the fee paid at the commencement of the case, no refund may be provided.
(11)	For filing a motion to reopen, the following fees apply:
		For filing a motion to reopen a Chapter 7 case, $245.
		For filing a motion to reopen a Chapter 9 case, $1000.
		For filing a motion to reopen a Chapter 11 case, $1000.
		For filing a motion to reopen a Chapter 12 case, $200.
		For filing a motion to reopen a Chapter 13 case, $235.
		For filing a motion to reopen a Chapter 15 case, $1000.
	The fee amounts in this item are derived from the fees prescribed in 28 U.S.C.§ 1930(a).
	The reopening fee must be charged when a case has been closed without a discharge being entered.
	The court may waive this fee under appropriate circumstances or may defer payment of the fee from trustees pending discovery of additional assets. If payment is deferred, the fee should be waived if no additional assets are discovered.
	The reopening fee must not be charged in the following situations:
		to permit a party to file a complaint to obtain a determination under Rule 4007(b); or
		when a debtor files a motion to reopen a case based upon an alleged violation of the terms of the discharge under 11 U.S.C. § 524; or
		when the reopening is to correct an administrative error.
(12)	For retrieval of a record from a Federal Records Center, National Archives, or other storage location removed from the place of business of the court, $53.
(13)	For a check paid into the court which is returned for lack of funds, $53.
(14)	For filing an appeal or cross appeal from a judgment, order, or decree, $293.
	This fee is collected in addition to the statutory fee of $5 that is collected under 28 U.S.C. § 1930 (c) when a notice of appeal is filed.
	Parties filing a joint notice of appeal should pay only one fee.
	If a trustee or debtor-in-possession is the appellant, the fee must be paid only by the estate, to the extent there is an estate.
	Upon notice from the court of appeals that a direct appeal or direct cross-appeal has been authorized, an additional fee of $157 must be collected.
(15)	For filing a case under Chapter 15 of the Bankruptcy Code, $1000.
	This fee is derived from and equal to the fee prescribed in 28 U.S.C. § 1930(a)(3) for filing a case commenced under Chapter 11 of Title 11.
(16)	The court may charge and collect fees commensurate with the cost of providing copies of the local rules of court. The court may also distribute copies of the local rules without charge.
(17)	The clerk shall assess a charge for the handling of registry funds deposited with the court, to be assessed from interest earnings and in accordance with the detailed fee schedule issued by the Director of the Administrative Office of the United States Courts.
	For management of registry funds invested through the Court Registry Investment System, a fee at a rate of 2.5 basis points shall be assessed from interest earnings.
(18)	For a motion filed by the debtor to divide a joint case filed under 11 U.S.C. § 302, the following fees apply:
		For filing a motion to divide a joint Chapter 7 case, $245.
		For filing a motion to divide a joint Chapter 11 case, $1000.
		For filing a motion to divide a joint Chapter 12 case, $200.
		For filing a motion to divide a joint Chapter 13 case, $235.
	These fees are derived from and equal to the filing fees prescribed in 28 U.S.C.§ 1930(a).
(19)	For filing the following motions, $176:
		To terminate, annul, modify or condition the automatic stay;
		To compel abandonment of property of the estate pursuant to Rule 6007(b) of the Federal Rules of Bankruptcy Procedure; or
		To withdraw the reference of a case or proceeding under 28 U.S.C. § 157(d).
	This fee must not be collected in the following situations:
		For a motion for relief from the co-debtor stay;
		For a stipulation for court approval of an agreement for relief from a stay; or
		For a motion filed by a child support creditor or its representative, if the form required by § 304(g) of the Bankruptcy Reform Act of 1994 is filed.

September 26, 2011

On September 13, 2011, the Judicial Conference of the United States voted to increase certain miscellaneous filing fees, effective November 1, 2011 (approximately six weeks from now). The "administrative fee" portion of the filing fee for each chapter will increase from $39 to $46, which will have the result of increasing the overall filing fee for each chapter by $7.00. Thus, as of November 1, the filing fees for each chapter will be as follows:

Chapter 7--$306
Chapter 11--$1,046
Chapter 12--$246
Chapter 13--$281
Chapter 15--$1,046

In addition, the fee for amending schedules will increase from $26 to $30, the adversary filing fee will increase from $250 to $293, the fee for filing a notice of appeal will increase from $250 to $293, and the fee for filing a motion for relief from stay will increase from $150 to $176.

There are other miscellaneous fee increases for certification, exemplification, audio recording, records searches, record retrieval, and returned checks.

August 10, 2011

From Chief Judge Pamela Pepper

Those who do Chapter 13 work in the Eastern District, please note that the mandatory "Notice and Request to Modify Chapter 13 Plan" has been updated. First, the pleading now is a "fillable" form. Second, it now contains a pair of alternative certifications on the last page, where either the debtors or their attorney can certify that the debtors are aware of the modifications being proposed. You can find the pleading on the court's web site, http://www.wieb.uscourts.gov, either in the appendix to the local rules or under the "Bankruptcy Forms," "Local Forms" link.

June 16, 2011

From the Office of the U.S. Trustee:

NOTICE REGARDING DEBTOR AUDITS

As authorized in Section 603(a) of Public Law 109-8, the Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act of 2005 (BAPCPA), the United States Trustee Program (USTP) established procedures for independent audit firms to audit petitions, schedules, and other information in consumer bankruptcy cases filed on or after October 20, 2006. Pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 586(f), the USTP contracted with independent accounting firms to perform audits in cases designated by the USTP.

Due to budgetary constraints, the USTP has suspended its designation of cases subject to audit for the remainder of fiscal year 2011 and has notified the independent accounting firms performing the audits.

Pursuant to Section 603(a) of BAPCPA and 28 U.S.C. § 586(a)(6), after the conclusion of the fiscal year the USTP will make public information concerning the aggregate results of the debtor audits performed during fiscal year 2011.

December 14, 2010

Patrick S. Layng has been appointed by Attorney General Eric Holder as U.S. Trustee for the Northern District of Illinois and the Eastern and Western Districts of Wisconsin (Region 11)

Click Here for the full press release

November 2, 2010

Pay.gov.

From Chief Judge Pepper:
As you know, it is mandatory for CM/ECF users to make payments, such as filing and amendment fee payments, on-line through Pay.gov. Users must make those payments within 24 hours of the transaction for which the fee is due. CM/ECF users who do not use Pay.gov as required may lose their CM/ECF privileges, and are subject to orders to show cause and possible sanctions for failure to comply with the court's CM/ECF policies.

On occasion, a CM/ECF user will run into a problem--an unexpected reduction in a credit card limit, or an unexpected cancellation of a credit card, for example--which causes that user temporarily to be unable to use Pay.gov. In such circumstances, the court can grant that user a temporary waiver of the Pay.gov requirement.

If you encounter such a problem, and need to file documents and pay filing or other fees with a check before the problem is resolved, you should submit along with your check a letter asking for a temporary waiver of the Pay.gov requirement and explaining the reason you need the waiver.

The clerk's office will accept the check, and will forward the letter to the chief judge for review. The court will grant reasonable requests for temporary waivers.

Thank you for your help in making this process run smoothly.
Pamela Pepper

Presumed reasonable fees

The judges of the Eastern District have decided that as of December 1, 2010, the presumptively reasonable fee for attorneys representing debtors in Chapter 13 cases shall be $3,500, and the presumptively reasonable fee for creditors' attorneys to file initial motions for relief from stay in either Chapter 7 or Chapter 13 cases shall be $800.

As you all know, the fact that these fees are "presumptively" reasonable means that if counsel's fees are at or less than the presumptively reasonable amount, counsel does not have to file an itemized fee application unless asked to do so by the Court or another party.

We will put more detailed information about the change in the appendix to the Local Rules, available on the court web site.

October 14, 2010

The Department of Justice has a video that answers questions regarding the HAMP program. The link follows:
www.justice.gov/ust/eo/public_affairs/consumer_info/hamp/video.htm

Forms for participation in the loss mitigation process are here

May 19, 2010

According to Chief Judge McGarity,

On May 11, 2010, the district judges for the Eastern District of Wisconsin approved the bankruptcy courts local rules. The rules that have been effective on an interim basis are now effective as of that date.

Margaret Dee McGarity

April 13, 2010

Form B 283 - Chapter 13 Debtor's Certification Regarding Domestic Support Obligaions and Section 522(q) was propounded April 10, 2010. Click here for a copy of the form

March 16, 2010

When BAPCPA arrived with new filing requirements and "automatic dismissal" provisions, the Eastern District Bankruptcy Court developed a "Deficiency Notice" to warn debtors and their attorneys that documents were missing, and that failure to file by the 45-day deadline would result in dismissal of the case. Then, we changed the Deficiency Notice to a Deficiency Order to provide even more teeth to the warning about possible dismissal.

Filings are up, BAPCPA is almost five years old, and the Judges and Clerk of the Eastern District have noticed that many of these Orders are issued to attorneys making "short filings" who have their documents in well before the 45-day deadline. For this reason, effective April 1, 2010, the Eastern District will no longer issue deficiency orders or notices to attorneys or debtors represented by attorneys. You will be responsible for checking that your filing is complete, and obtaining an extension of time when you can't get the Schedules, SOFA, B22, and other required "information" filed by the § 522(i) deadline.

March 15, 2010

Revised dollar amounts for the Bankruptcy Code take effect April 1, 2010. Click Here for the new amounts.

February 28, 2010

Debt limits for Chapter 13 increase April 1, 2010, to $360,475 of unsecured debt and $1,081,400 of secured debt. This change represents an increase of about 7% over the Chapter 13 debt limits in effect prior to the change. Congress limited the amount of debt owed by the debtor in a Chapter 13 case but adjustments to the debt limits are scheduled to occur every three years on the first day of April in the year of adjustment beginning April 1, 1998. The Bankruptcy Code in §109(e) prohibits use of Chapter 13 by individuals with debts that exceed the specified limits. The adjustments are required by §104(a) of the code and an adjustment is due this year.

The adjustment of various dollar amounts specified in the bankruptcy code is intended by statute to reflect the change in the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers, published by the Department of Labor, for the most recent 3-year period ending on December 31 of the prior year. The dollar amounts are rounded to the nearest $25 increment and apply to a number of different dollar limits impacting Chapter 7, 11, 12 and 13 cases.

June 25, 2009
Based upon the feedback we received at the last United States Trustee meeting, and after further consideration of the issue, we have determined that debtors’ counsel, trustees, or their staffs will no longer be permitted to act as the interpreter of record for debtors or creditors at section 341 meetings in those locations where there is access to the Program’s contract tele-interpreter service. This change in policy is to preserve the integrity of the transcript for civil and criminal prosecution purposes

Trustees may continue to use sign language interpreters as they have in the past. There has been no change to this policy.

Older News

Judge McGarity decided that above median debtors in chapter 13 may not take a deduction for the contractural payment on surrendered property. Click here for the pdf.

The Chapter 13 Trustees for the Eastern District have decided(unless a contrary decision is received from a Court of competent jurisdiction) that the federal stimulus payment does not constitute a tax refund under disposable income calculations. This follows the precedent from the last time there was a stimulus distribution by the government. (Updated 4/17/08)

New No Look Fee
The judges of the Eastern District have met and decided it is appropriate to raise the "no look" fee for chapter 13 cases from $2,500 to $3,000, effective for cases filed on or after October 1, 2007. We are referring to this as a "no look" fee, meaning it will not be necessary to file a fee application with notice to interested parties, unless fees exceed this amount at any time during the case. However, fees are subject to review if challenged by any party, and there will be no presumption that the fees are reasonable. See Fed. R. Bankr. P. 2016 and 2017. (Updated 10/3/07)

910 Claims
The 7th Circuit in a direct appeal held that a 910 vehicle cannot be surrendered in full satisfaction of the debt. The creditor retains the right to file a deficiency unsecured claim. The opinion is here. (Updated July 11, 2007)

In Re 06-20127 Smith (Bankr. E.D. Wis. May, 2007)
When a creditor files its proof of claim pre-petition and the debtor (a) proposes a plan that specifically articulates how it will treat that creditor's claim, (2) that treatment is different than the treatment in the proof of claim, and (3) the debtor serves the plan on that creditor, the treatment in the confirmed plan controls over the proof of claim if the creditor does not object to its treatment pre-confirmation. Click here to view the decision. (Updated May 31, 2007)

Electronic Service
Our office has consented to electronic service under Rules 7005(b)(2)(D) and 9014(b). When you file documents with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court, our office will normally receive a copy within 2 days. Click Here to see what items we do not need courtesy copies of. (Updated 6/1/06)

A note from the Chief Judge
At a recent staff meeting, the Judges of the Eastern District of Wisconsin discussed Fed. R. Bankr. P. 9006(f), which states:

When there is a right or requirement to do some act or undertake some proceedings within a prescribed period after service of a notice or other paper and the notice or paper other than process is served by mail or under Rule 5(b)(2)(C) or (D) F. R. Civ. P., three days shall be added to the prescribed period.

The usual practice for a motion for relief from the automatic stay is to provide a notice of motion giving 15 days from the date of the notice within which to file an objection and request for a hearing. Since such a notice of motion requires the responder to do something, that is, to “undertake some proceedings within a prescribed period,” three days are added for mailing. Therefore, if the notice has been served by mail, an affidavit of no objection and proposed order should not be submitted until the 19th day after service. This would allow for the three extra days required under the above rule. The court has frequently received affidavits of no objection and proposed orders on the 16th day which does not provide for the allowed time to object. This makes the affidavit premature as the time has not yet passed.

With respect to orders submitted as a result of a hearing or orders submitted with an affidavit of default of a prior order, copies of the proposed order should be served on the interested parties and proof of that service submitted with the proposed order. The court will usually hold these orders under the five day rule. Also, please attach a copy of the prior order to the affidavit of default. (Updated 3/23/05)
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