Florida Uniform Case Numbering System

This actually has nothing to do with Bankruptcy.  This is for Circuits in Florida.  But from time to time, I need to reference a State Case in a bankruptcy, but have trouble finding the state guidelines for numbering.  So I thought it might be helpful if I posted an overview of the numbering system used in the county and circuit courts to hopefully facilitate better understanding of and more universal adoption of this logical system.

The Uniform Case Number is a twenty character sequence that has five components, broken out, it looks as follows: XX-XXXX-XX-XXXXXX-XXXXXX.

For Example, the first felony case filed in Orange County for 2009 would look as follows: 48-2009-CF-000001-OAXXXX

Broken down, the five components are explained as follows:

The first two characters are the county designation code. Florida has 67 counties and the codes are assigned from 01 – 67 in alphabetical order. A listing of each county’s code is provided at the bottom of this post.

The next four characters are the year your case was actually opened in with the clerk of the court, not the year the issue in dispute occurred.

An example would be if you were physically placed under arrest on December 31, 2008, but you were not actually booked into jail until January 1, 2009. As a result the year designation for your case would be 2009. Because this is the year the Clerk actually would open your case, which is because you were not booked into jail and brought to their attention until 2009.

The following two characters are the court case type (or designation). In addition to the brief examples provided here, I have alco provided a complete listing of court case types at the bottom of the post.

Examples are CF = Felony, MM = Misdemeanor, CT = Criminal Traffic.

The following six characters are the case sequence; simply meaning the number assigned to a case as they are opened each year.

The first case of each year in each division is assigned 000001, the second case is 000002, and so on.

The final six numbers are not specifically assigned and are left to the individual counties to use for their own internal management purposes. Two common practices are to use the first of the two digits to assign co-defendant order (usually starting alphabetical by last name) or municipality designation.

For example, Co-Defendant 1 would be assigned A, Co-Defendant 2 would be assigned B, and so forth.
Or, a misdemeanor case initiated by Eatonville Police Department in Orange County, Florida might look as follows: 48-2009-MM-000001-EA. The E indicates an Eatonville PD case and the A indicates Co-Defendant A if there were two people arrested.

In any event, I hope this provides some clarification for the masses out there.
Court Case Type Designation

AP	Appeal from County Court
CA	Circuit Civil
CF	Felony
CJ	Delinquency (Juvenile Crime)
CO	County Ordinance Violation
CP	Probate
CT	Criminal Traffic Citation (But also a Misdemeanor Offense)
DP	Dependency
DR	Domestic Relations
GA	Guardianship
IN	Non-Traffic Infraction
MH	Mental Health
MM	Misdemeanor
MO	Municipal Ordinance Violation
SC	Small Claims
TR	Traffic Infraction

County Code Designations

County	County Code
Alachua	01
Baker	02
Bay	03
Bradford	04
Brevard	05
Broward	06
Calhoun	07
Charlotte	08
Citrus	09
Clay	10
Collier	11
Columbia	12
Dade (Miami)	13
DeSoto	14
Dixie	15
Duval	16
Escambia	17
Flagler	18
Franklin	19
Gadsden	20
Gilchrist	21
Glades	22
Gulf	23
Hamilton	24
Hardee	25
Hendry	26
Hernando	27
Highlands	28
Hillsborough	29
Holmes	30
Indian River	31
Jackson	32
Jefferson	33
Lafayette	34
Lake	35
Lee	36
Leon	37
Levy	38
Liberty	39
Madison	40
Manatee	41
Marion	42
Martin	43
Monroe	44
Nassau	45
Okaloosa	46
Okeechobee	47
Orange	48
Osceola	49
Palm Beach	50
Pasco	51
Pinellas	52
Polk	53
Putnam	54
Santa Rosa	55
Sarasota	56
Saint Johns	57
Saint Lucie	58
Seminole	59
Sumter	60
Suwannee	61
Taylor	62
Union	63
Volusia	64
Wakulla	65
Walton	66
Washington	67

Bankruptcy Preparation Mistakes

So, you have decided you need to file bankruptcy.  Now what?  How should I plan for the bankruptcy?  What should I do?

Rule Number 1:  The Bankruptcy Code is NOT necessarily logical.  Congress passed it, and Congress does not have to be logical.

Rule Number 2:  If you think you are doing things to help yourself regarding the filing of a bankruptcy, you are probably hurting yourself.

Rule Number 3:  Remember Rules 1 and 2.


Don't make the following mistakes:

1.    The Credit Card Run-Up Mistake
2.    The Repay a Family Member or Friend Mistake
3.    The Liquidate Your Retirement Account Mistake
4.    The Home Equity Line of Credit/Second Mortgage to Pay Debt Mistake
5.    The Pay Off/Down Your Car Loan Mistake
5.    The Transfer Property Out of Your Name Mistake
6.    The Failure to Appear at a Court Hearing Mistake
7.    The Failure to Tell Your Attorney The Truth, The Whole Truth, and Nothing But The Truth Mistake
8.    The Student Loan Mistake


Volumes can be written on the forgoing.  If you are planning to file bankruptcy, make sure to consult with a competent bankruptcy attorney in your area, so you can properly plan for the bankruptcy.

Debtor Bankruptcy Noticing From The Court for Middle District of Florida, Jacksonville Division

Effective Monday, June 29, 2015, the Court will begin implementation of a new beneficial and free program titled, Debtor Electronic Bankruptcy Noticing, also known as DeBN. Debtor's wishing to receive electronic notification of court generated notices and orders the same day they are entered on the docket, will be able to do so by simply filing out a request form. Attorney's may file the request form electronically for their debtor's.


DeBN is a voluntary service, which does not require the debtor to have a PACER login and does not require an enrollment fee.

Click here for more specific information on the DeBN program, or visit the Court's website at www.flmb.uscourts.gov/DeBN

Click here to review the Debtor Electronic Bankruptcy Noticing Request Form.

Click here for simple steps to docket the request form.

How To Surrender Property in Bankruptcy

Bankr MD Fla: How does a Debtor SURRENDER Real Property in bankruptcy? 

I received an email from another attorney in Jacksonville, Florida, Bobby Wilbert, that states, in part:

This is a big issue here in Florida when debtors just wanna walk away and be done with it. At a minimum, "surrender" under Bankruptcy Code §§ 521 and 1325 means a debtor cannot take an overt act that impedes a secured creditor from foreclosing its interest in secured property. Although "surrender" is not defined in the Bankruptcy Code, the First and Fourth Circuits have interpreted that term to mean a debtor must relinquish any rights in the secured property—including the right of possession—and make it available to the secured creditor.  

The rub in all this is, you can not make a creditor take the property.  

This becomes most relevant with properties that have homeowner association fees, which the debtor will be responsible for, post discharge.

However, fortunately, most property surrendered is by a mutual agreement between the creditor and the debtor.

Can A Lien Still Be Stripped Off In A Chapter 13?

Well, the answer is, as of today, we do not know.  We have yet to see how the courts will react to Bank of America vs. Caulkett.  Below is one attorneys analysis of the situation regarding Chapter 13 cases:

The court explained that the anti-modification protections provided to secured creditors by 11 U.S.C. § 1322(b)(2) apply only when the creditor's lien actually has some value, drawing a distinction between under-secured liens and liens without any value whatsoever. "'Section 1322(b)(2) protects a creditor's rights in a mortgage lien only where the debtor's residence retains enough value — after accounting for other encumbrances that have priority over the lien — so that the lien is at least partially secured under Section 506(a).'" Id. at 881-82 (quoting Pond v. Farm Specialist Realty (In re Pond), 252 F.3d 122, 126 (2d Cir. 2001)). When "the creditor's claim is wholly unsecured, then the reasoning of Nobelman [v. American Sav. Bank, 508 U.S. 324 (1993) (prohibiting stripping of partially secured liens)] does not preclude modifying the creditor's rights under § 1322(b)(2)." Id. at 882. A wholly unsecured creditor does not hold a claim secured by the debtor's residence, so the anti-modification [4]  provision does not apply. Id. (citing McDonald v. Master Fin'l, Inc. (In re McDonald), 205 F.3d 606, 612 (3d Cir. 2000)). Accordingly, Chapter 13 debtors may strip off the lien of a junior lienholder where there is no equity securing the security interest in the property.

If you have a different analysis, please enter it below.

Thanks.

Bankruptcy: Can I End Up In Jail?

Can someone end up in jail for filing bankruptcy?  Well, consider the following announcement I received today regarding a Hillsborough County resident indicted on bankruptcy fraud, mail fraud, and aggravated identity theft charges:
 
From Tampa Florida -- United States Attorney A. Lee Bentley, III announces the return of an indictment charging David W. Griffin (44, Lutz) with one count of mail fraud, nine counts of bankruptcy fraud, two counts of making a false statement under oath during a bankruptcy proceeding, and one count of aggravated identity theft. If convicted, he faces up to 20 years in federal prison for the mail fraud charge, and up to five years on each of the bankruptcy fraud and false statement charges. A mandatory term of two years’ imprisonment for the aggravated identity theft charge would run consecutive to the other penalties imposed. 

According to the indictment, Griffin operated a foreclosure rescue scheme through his companies, Bay2Bay Area Holding, LLC and Business Development Consultants, LLC. The purpose of the scheme was to obtain quitclaim or warranty deeds from distressed homeowners facing foreclosure in return for false promises to rescue their homes from foreclosure by negotiating with creditors, renting the property back to the homeowner to obtain rental income, and falsely promising that the homeowner could repurchase the property from Griffin. To maximize his rental income, it was also a purpose of the scheme to prevent creditors and guarantors, including the Federal National Mortgage Association (“Fannie Mae”) and the Federal Housing Administration, from pursuing lawful foreclosure and eviction actions against homeowners who had defaulted on their mortgages. This was accomplished by filing, or causing to be filed, fraudulent bankruptcies in the names of the homeowners without their knowledge or consent. These fraudulent bankruptcies generated mailings sent from the bankruptcy court to the victim homeowner via the U.S. Postal Service. 

The indictment also alleges that Griffin lied under oath in sworn testimony before the Office of the United States Trustee and the bankruptcy trustee. Under penalty of perjury, Griffin stated that he had no knowledge of a bankruptcy petition filed in the name of his company, Bay2Bay Area Holding Group, when in fact, he prepared the petition and directed an individual to sign his name and file the petition with the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Middle District of Florida. 

An indictment is merely a formal charge that a defendant has committed one or more violations of federal criminal law, and every defendant is presumed innocent unless, and until, proven guilty. 

This case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, the Federal Housing Finance Agency - Office of Inspector General, and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development – Office of Inspector General. It is being prosecuted by Special Assistant United States Attorney Chris Poor.

Second Mortgage in Chapter 7: Bank of America, N.A. v. Caulkett

After the Eleventh Circuit determined it to be OK to strip off totally unsecured mortgages, the Supreme Court sent a message that they decided this one incorrectly.

The U.S. Supreme Court, on June 1, 2015, unanimously held in Bank of America, N.A. v. Caulkett, a chapter 7 debtor cannot "strip off" a mortgage, even if it is totally underwater, under § 506(d); the Court reversed the Eleventh Circuit decision.  The Court based its decision on Dewsnup v. Timm, 502 U.S. 410 (1992), in which the Court had held that a chapter 7 debtor cannot "strip down" a partially underwater mortgage under § 506(d).

Writing for the Court, Justice Thomas concluded that "Dewsnup's construction of "secured claim" resolves the question presented here." The Court's decision in Caulkett now indicates that mortgage liens are sacrosanct in chapter 7, without regard to whether they are partially or totally underwater.

It is yet to be seen how this will effect mortgages in Chapter 13 cases, but mortgagees have a plausible argument to extend Caulkett there as well.