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Bankruptcy

  • Do NOT add/create new attorneys when filing pleadings. If an attorney is known, you may search by his/her name. If no match is found, do not add/create a new attorney. Proceed to the next step.
  • There are two different docket events for Affidavit for Entry of Default and Motion for Entry of Default. Depending upon your preference, you may use either. The affidavit event can be found under the Miscellaneous category. The motion event can be found under the Motions category.

Open Bankruptcy Case

  • Do not use all caps or all lowercase when typing information in CM/ECF.
  • When filing a petition for joint debtors, please note that the role type is debtor for the first debtor you put in and joint debtor for the second debtor.
  • The Social Security Statement should not be submitted as an attachment to the petition.
  • The mailing matrix must be submitted as a text document. You should also include a PDF version of the matrix as part of the petition or as an attachment to the petition.
  • When putting on a petition and the debtor has a mailing and street address, insert only the mailing address.
  • It is no longer necessary to add the bankruptcy administrator to the mailing matrix. Court staff spends a great deal of time deleting the bankruptcy administrator's name and address when the matrix is imported into CM/ECF. The bankruptcy administrator is already in the system to receive notices so adding her to the matrix is duplicative.
  • At the "search for a party" screen, insert the debtor's last name. If the name you are looking for is shown in the "party search results" screen exactly as it appears on the petition, single click on the name so that the window with the complete address record will open. If the address is the same as the address for the debtor in the case you are filing, click "select name from list". If the address is different, select "create new party" to create the party record. Please remember to run the Judge/Trustee Assignment program after uploading creditors.

Service

  • The court's local notice of motion form which provides for a speific due date should be used when preparing any document requiring response time.
  • When inserting response due dates, make sure you add 3 days mailing time. Ex. If the motion requires 15 days response time, the date you insert will be the 18th day after service. If the 18th day falls on a weekend or holiday, use the next working day as the response due date. There is a notice of motion form which can be found in the local rules in which you put a specific date. The 3 days mailing should be included when the date is inserted.

Miscellaneous Docket Events

  • To notify the court of an address change for a debtor, docket Address Change - Debtor(Text) under Miscellaneous. This is a text entry and no PDF will need to be attached.
  • To notify the court of an address change for a creditor, docket Address change - Creditor/Party(Text) under Miscellaneous. This is a text entry and no PDF will need to be attached.
  • When amending a document other than a motion or application, use Amended/Amendment to Filing under Miscellaneous. The only exceptions would be Amended Chapter 11 Plan, Amended Chapter 12 Plan, Amended Chapter 13 Plan and Amended Disclosure Statement found under Plan Events.
  • When docketing an objection to confirmation prior to the trustee's motion for confirmation being filed, use Objection to Confirmation of Plan under Plan Events.
  • Letters may be imaged and docketed as Miscellaneous Correspondence - Atty (Private) instead of mailing the letter to the court. Miscellaneous Correspondence - Atty (Private) can be found under Miscellaneous.
  • Notice of Disinterest (Text) - Notice Of Disinterest And Request To No Longer Receive Notices in Case. (This will remove the attorney from the email notification list in that case if desired.)

Motions and Applications

  • When amending a motion or application, use Amended Motion/Application or Amendment to Motion/Application under Motions. The only exceptions would be Amended Objection to Claim and Amendment to Objection to Claim found under Claim Actions.
  • If you have a motion which pertains to multiple creditors, please note that you will need to file a separate motion for each creditor. For example, if you have a Motion to Avoid Lien of Sears and Beneficial Finance, you will need to file two motions. One to avoid the lien of Sears and one to avoid the lien of Beneficial Finance.
  • If a multi-part motion is being filed, hold down the "Ctrl" key and click on multiple motions. (For example, for a Motion To Modify Plan which contains an Application for Additional Attorney Fees, hold down the Ctrl key and select both Modify Plan and Additional Fees (Ch. 13) from the picklist.)
  • Be sure to add the co-debtor as a party to the case when docketing motions relating to a co-debtor.
  • Application For Compensation - When filing an application for compensation requesting allowance of fees and expenses for a party other than the filer, the “from”, “to”, “Fee Request”, and “expense request” fields should be left blank. An amount of 0.00 should not be inserted in the fee and expense fields in lieu of leaving blank.
  • Disbursement (Attorney Fees - Chapter 13) - Motion for disbursement of funds. This should be used when the debtor’s attorney requests funds held by the chapter 13 trustee to be turned over to him/her as payment of attorney fees in a case that was dismissed prior to confirmation.

Orders

Orders are to be uploaded into CM/ECF via the Order Upload feature found under Bankruptcy Events and Adversary Events. See Rule 5005-4(4) of the Administrative Guide for instructions.

Objections/Responses

An objection objects to a motion; A response does not object; A reply is an answer to a response or objection.