FLMB-2015-8: Amended Adminstrative Order Prescribing Procedures For Chapter 13 Cases

On August 10, 2015, Chief Judge Jennemann signed the Amended Administrative Order Prescribing Procedures For Chapter 13 Cases.  The Order is applicable Chapter 13 cases filed in the Middle District of Florida.  

Paragraph 2 of the Order requires Debtor's attorney to provide a copy of the Order to their clients; as such, a copy of the Order, in it's entirety, can be viewed at http://goo.gl/a5ekDM.  

The following is provided as a reference, or index, of the Order, and is not a substitute for the Order as published.

AMENDED ADMINISTRATIVE ORDER PRESCRIBING

PROCEDURES FOR CHAPTER 13 CASES

This Administrative Order establishes uniform procedures for all Chapter 13 cases filed in this District after September 1, 2015. Accordingly, it is

ORDERED: 

1. Additional Information Required to be Filed with the Court. No later than 14 days from the petition date...

2. Service of this Administrative Order to Debtor. Debtor’s attorney...shall... 

3. Chapter 13 Plan. No later than 14 days from the petition date...
Debtor’s failure to timely make payments to the Chapter 13 Trustee (the “Trustee”) or to
comply with any of the other requirements of this Order may result in dismissal or
conversion of the case. 

4. Plan Payments. Payments under the Plan shall... 
IF THE PLAN PROVIDES FOR DEBTOR TO MAKE DIRECT PAYMENTS TO A SECURED CREDITOR OR LESSOR, THE AUTOMATIC STAY IS TERMINATED, IN REM, AS TO THAT CREDITOR. 

5. Payments to Trustee. Debtor, not later than 30 days after the petition date...  If the
Trustee does not receive payment when due, the Trustee may seek dismissal of the case.

6. Adequate Protection for Secured Creditors. 

7. Refund of Plan Payments to Debtor if Case Is Converted or Dismissed.

8. Executory Contracts and Unexpired Leases. The Plan must provide for the assumption or rejection of executory contracts and lease obligations. 

9. Termination of the Automatic Stay. If the Plan provides for the surrender..., for [direct] payments, or fails to provide for the [secured] claim, ... in rem relief from the automatic stay [is granted]...

10. Modification of the Automatic Stay.  Creditors [claims are secured by mortgages] to communicate directly with Debtor regarding modification or refinance...

11. Meeting of Creditors and Documents to be Submitted to Trustee. Debtor shall appear...

12. Confirmation Hearing. ...the Court will consider confirmation...all pending motions...

13. Pre-Confirmation Deadline for Filing Amended Plans and Certain Motions. The following shall be filed no later than 28 days after the claims bar date: a. An amended Plan, if necessary to obtain confirmation; b. Motions to determine secured status of claim; and c. Motions to avoid liens, if necessary to obtain confirmation. 

14. Deadline for Filing Objections to Claims. Debtor shall file objections to any claims that Debtor seeks to have disallowed, in whole or in part, no later than 28 days after the claims bar date or 14 days after filing an amended proof of claim. 

15. Deadline to Seek Mortgage Modification Mediation.

16. Service Requirements. Debtor shall serve a copy of any amended Plan...

17. Duties of Debtor’s Attorney and Payment of Attorney’s Fees. Debtor’s attorney must assist Debtor in all matters related to this case unless the Court has granted the attorney’s motion to withdraw from the case. Debtor’s counsel shall not withhold legal advice or service from Debtor because of lack of payment and may not demand payment from Debtor or any person on behalf of Debtor as a condition of providing legal advice or service.


18. Tax Returns and Refunds. ...Unless otherwise ordered by the Court, Debtor shall turn over to the Trustee all tax refunds in addition to regular Plan payments.

19. Filing Claims on Behalf of Creditors. Under Rule 3004, within 30 days after the expiration of the claims bar date...

20. Extension of Time to File Objections to Debtor’s Claims of Exemption. 

21. Cooperation with Trustee. ... Debtor shall, at Debtor’s expense...deliver to the Trustee a current appraisal... Debtor may file... a motion to employ professionals under § 327.

22. Debtor’s Duty to Supplement.

23. Notice of Domestic Support Obligations.

24. Notice to Creditors and Other Interested Parties.

25. Default. If Debtor fails to make payments...

     I recently read an article on the internet concerning a debtor inquiring as to whether they could keep their $31,000 car if the person filed bankruptcy; the car was paid off. The article is fair in its analysis. It mentions the debtor being able to keep the exempt value of the vehicle, and the exempt amount will vary according to what jurisdiction you are filing in. For example, if the debtor was filing in a jurisdiction that allows for a $15,000 automobile exemption, upon the sale of the automobile by the Trustee, the debtor would be able to keep the first $15,000 of the sale proceeds. The balance would be distributed to creditors.

The article mentions the availability of three options:

1. Surrender the vehicle. As mentioned above, the car will be sold, and the proceeds distributed.
2. Settle with the Trustee. Within my jurisdiction (Florida), this is the most common, as the trustee would prefer to settle and distribute proceeds without the time and expense of selling the vehicle, and the debtor would prefer to keep the vehicle. In this case, the debtor simply pays the to the Trustee an agreed amount to repurchase the portion of the non-exempt vehicle from the bankruptcy estate.
3. File a Chapter 13. In this case, you are still repurchasing the non-exempt vehicle from the bankruptcy estate, but you are able to do so in 3 to 5 years. Payments are simply made to the Trustee.

      While this is a very good simplified analysis of what can be done, you should check with a competent bankruptcy attorney in your area to find out your available exemptions, and any other alternatives that may be available. This is an area of bankruptcy where the attorney's experience may be able to greatly benefit you.  There may be additional available exemptions you can use to increase the amount of the vehicle you can keep when filing, or there may be some appropriate pre-filing planning that will result in either increasing the amount of available exemptions, or reducing the amount of vehicle available to the bankruptcy estate.

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.