Effective September 18, 2008, all motions for payment of unclaimed funds will be heard by Judge Carol A. Doyle on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 10:00 a.m. (See Procedural Requirements for the Payment of Previously Unclaimed Funds)

Please note that September 18, 2008 will be the last court call before Judge John D. Schwartz on his pending cases. Shortly after that date all pending cases currently assigned to him will be reassigned to other Judges of this Court. Notices will be sent to all parties regarding reassignments. Judge Schwartz will continue to mediate cases. Matters for mediation may be set up by contacting his Judicial Assistant, Cindy Grossman, at 312-435-5652 or through email at cindy_grossman@ilnb.uscourts.gov.

Please be advised that on Friday, September 5, 2008 Judge Squires will hear his cases in courtroom 4012 instead of courtroom 4016 on this date only.
There will be signs posted. Renoticing or amending current motions set for this date is "not" necessary.

Effective August 26, 2008
IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that all attorneys must comply with the Administrative Procedures for the Case Management/Electronic Case Filing System, approved February 17, 2004 and amended from time to time, that require attorneys to file all documents in electronic format.
IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that failure to comply with the Administrative Procedures will result in the issuance of a notice of hearing of rule to show cause before the Chief Judge to the attorney responsible for filing documents in paper form. Failure to appear at the rule to show cause hearing may result in counsel being held in contempt of court and the imposition of other sanctions.
IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that, in accordance with the Administrative Procedures, individuals without legal representation may file documents in paper form.
View General Order 08-02

The 2008-2009 Bankruptcy Court Liaison Committee Members have been posted!

Pursuant to section 2071(b) of Title 28 of the United States Code regarding appropriate public notice and opportunity for comment, public notice is hereby given that the Court has approved for publication a proposed amendment to the following local rule: Local Rules of the Bankruptcy Court

1001-1 through 5005-1 (Bookmarked PDF)

5005-2 through 9029-3 (Bookmarked PDF)

The PACER Service Center (PSC) website and U.S. Party/Case Index have failed over to replicated sites.
All functionality has been restored.
If you have any questions please call the PACER Service Center's toll free number at 800-676-6856.

The PACER-Net connection to the PACER Service Center (PSC)is currently down. All web traffic to the PACER Service Center website and U.S. Party/Case Index is affected by this outage. Customers can not use the PACER links page, run searches on the U.S. Party/Case Index or register for AP filer accounts until the network connection is restored. There is no ETA on a fix at this time. We will send an update as more information is available.
CM/ECF is available, Cases and documents may still be filed.
If you have any questions please call the PACER Service Center's toll free number at 800-676-6856.

Due to a variety of issues the court will not be able to perform the intended upgrade to CM/ECF Version 3.2 this weekend, July 11, 2008. We do not have a specific date at this time, but will advise you at the first opportunity. The date will most likely be in August, but definitely not before August 8, 2008. We will send an advisory when a new date has been selected. Thank you for your understanding.

Electronic Learning Modules

Notes for PACER Users

The Legal Assistance Foundation of Metropolitan Chicago (LAF) is seeking a staff attorney to work part time (60%) at the bankruptcy help desk, which is located in the United States Bankruptcy Court, 219 S. Dearborn, Chicago...
View complete announcement

Effective, tentatively the weekend of July 11, 2008, the Court will be upgrading the electronic case filing application. Many new features will be included. Please select from the links below to learn more.

Electronic Learning Modules

Notes for PACER Users

Effective June 27, 2008, Judge Squires will be sitting in a new Courtroom at the Dupage County Courthouse, Courtroom 4016. All Hearings should be noticed for the new Courtroom Number. All Hearing times remain the same. The Dupage County 341 Meetings have also changed to another location and will be held in Room 2017.

The Lake County bankruptcy call scheduled for August 8, 2008, has been reset to August 1, 2008. There will be no Lake County call on August 8.

Beginning September 12, 2008, the location of the Lake County bankruptcy court call will change again. Lake County chapter 7 and chapter 13 bankruptcy matters will be no longer be heard at the Lakehurst Branch Court. The call will instead be heard in Courtroom B at the new Park City Branch Court. The address of the new location is: The hearing schedule will not change. The hearing schedule at the Park City location will be the same schedule followed at Lakehurst.

The United States Bankruptcy Court is offering attorneys two options for completion of the ECF training: (option one ) on-line training and (option two) on-site classroom training. On-site classroom training is offered to attorneys and their support staff. If you are an attorney and would prefer to take the training on-line you may select option one from the CM/ECF Training - Registration Information page. Once you have registered you will receive an e-mail that will provide you with the required lessons that must be completed prior to receiving your training login and password.

To access the registration process select CM/ECF Information>ECF Training Registration or click on link below:

https://tdi.ilnb.uscourts.gov/training/

The Bankruptcy Court Liaison Committee is looking for practicing attorneys who are interested in serving on the Committee. There will be several positions open to non-judiciary attorneys for the Committee’s next term, which commences in June 2008. The Bankruptcy Court Liaison Committee was formed to promote communication about court procedures, etiquette, filings and other issues; to assist the Court and attorneys in creating a more efficient environment; and to represent a diverse group of bankruptcy attorneys from the Chicago area. Additionally, the Committee members develop, participate in and support educational programs concerning issues affecting the bench, attorneys, financial institutions and consumers, including providing support for the local CARE Program and state law school participation in the ABI’s national moot court competition. The Committee also creates social opportunities to allow greater interaction between the Court and those who appear before it.

If you are interested, please send a letter expressing your interest in serving on the Committee and also send any other information that may be helpful to the Committee. Please submit your information to either Scott Alsterda or Terri Long no later than May 16, 2008, per the contact information below:

R. Scott Alsterda
Ungaretti & Harris, LLP
3500 Three First National Plaza
Chicago, IL 60602
Tel: 312/977-9203
Fax 312/977-4405
Email: rsalsterda@uhlaw.com

Terri M. Long
Law Offices of Terri M. Long
18201 Morris Avenue
Homewood, IL 60430
Tel: 708-922-3301
Fax 708-922-3302
Email: tmlong@tmlong.com

An important computer room upgrade will be performed this Saturday approximately 7:30 AM to 3:00 PM. During this outage our CM/ECF "Live" server will be removed from service, but our "Replica" server will be available as a reference resource. One may view case information, but no docket entries may be made. The duration of the outage may be shorter."

Apologies for the inconvenience. Thank you for your understanding.

The Bankruptcy Judges of the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of Illinois have asked the Federal Judicial Center (FJC) to survey attorneys who have practiced in the district to assess the performance of each of the Bankruptcy Judges.
View Announcement/Schedule

A revised version of form, "Required Statement to Accompany All Motions for Relief from Stay" has been published. Effective immediately, please use the new form when filing "Motions for relief from Stay".
View Form

For all who participated in our survey in September 2007, Thank You!

You gave us feedback and we listened. In an effort to measure the court’s success, during the week of April 21 and April 28 we will be conducting another survey of our customer at the Dirksen Courthouse, the outlying counties and Rockford. Again we have a team of staff members that will hand out the survey and help facilitate this process. We are interested to see if we have made improvement in the areas of access, fairness and level of service. The survey will only take 5 minutes to complete. The opinions of our customers count and we appreciate your participation.

The Office of the United States Trustee will be moving from its Monroe Street location to the Dirksen Federal Court House over the weekend of Friday, April 4th. On that Friday, the Chicago UST office will have no access to telephones, fax machines, or email. If you have an emergency and need to contact the UST's office, please leave a detailed message with the Milwaukee UST office (414) 297-4499. The UST will get back to you in as timely manner as possible. The UST is expecting that all services will be restored by Monday, April 7, 2008 at the new location. All scheduled 341 meetings will be held at the new space beginning on Wednesday, April 9th. The new address will be:


The main telephone number (312) 886-5785 and fax number (312) 886-5794 will remain the same as will all individual employees’ numbers.
View PDF version of the announcement

The Court’s Standing Order Regarding Filing of Payment Advices effective October 17, 2005 has been replaced effective June 23, 2008 by General Order No. 08-01 Regarding Pay Advices. For all Chapter 7 cases filed on or after June 23, 2008, pay advices must be provided to the United States Trustee, in addition to the case trustee and any creditor who timely requests copies. The current Standing Order Regarding Filing of Payment Advices applies to all cases filed on or before June 22, 2008.

View General Order 08-01
View for Instructions for submission of payment advices to U. S. Trustee

To improve the accuracy of the Bankruptcy Case Opening process and in response to our customers' concerns, the system will be modified to require that the county field be completed for each case. Currently, the system defaults the county field to Cook, and while the majority of cases are filed in Cook, this default has sometimes resulted in assignment errors that require correction and delay the release of the 341 notice. Failure to complete the county field will result in a error message that must be corrected in order to complete the filing of the case. This change will be effective Wednesday, February 27, 2008 at approximately 8:00 am. Thank you for your cooperation.

On Sunday, February 17, 2008, electrical power to our Court will be turned off. Unfortunately, the data processing center which hosts our primary CM/ECF equipment and website is in the part of the Court that will be without power. The outage is expected to occur from approximately 7:00 AM CST until 5:00 PM, Sunday, the 17th.

During the power outage we will direct users to our "replica" site. The replica will only be available for viewing information. You will not be able to file any documents. If you have ever accessed our systems during previous outages you may be familiar with this arrangement.

https://ecf.ilnb.uscourts.gov

The outage may be of shorter duration, but the time mentioned is the best estimate provided by building management. We will send another announcement when service is restored.

Many apologies for this inconvenience.

The court's web site has been updated. Not just a facelift, but a completely new site from the ground up. Though the look and feel are not too dramatically different, our goal was to make it easier to find the items you are searching, keep the number of clicks for navigation to a minimum, and to make it more intuitive from a user's perspective. An effort was made to keep you at the main page as much as possible to avoid "backtracking". We have also added a powerful search engine tool. You will be able to narrow your search criteria to avoid the "too many matches" syndrome.

The new site will be activated the morning of Thursday, January 24, 2008. We hope you will find the new site an improvement over the old, but please give us your suggestions using the "Contact Us" option.

Thanks and happy surfing!

The Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2008 contains a provision that increased the quarterly fees on disbursements paid by chapter 11 debtors in U.S. trustee regions. The new fees went into effect on January 1, 2008, and are first due from chapter 11 debtors to the United States Trustees for deposit into the Treasury by the end of April 2008.
View Form B200 and Fee Changes.

Due to unexpected equipment difficulties associated to the Sunday power outage full CM/ECF service will not be restored until Monday, January 21th, late morning or early afternoon.

On Sunday, January 20, 2008, electrical power to a significant portion of our building will be turned off. Unfortunately, the data processing center which hosts our primary CM/ECF equipment is in the part of the building that will be without power. The outage is expected to occur from approximately 7:00 AM until 5:00 PM.

During the power outage we will direct users to our "replica" site. The replica will only be available for viewing information. You will not be able to file any documents. If you have ever accessed our systems during previous outages you may be familiar with this arrangement.

The outage may be of shorter duration, but the time mentioned is the best estimate provided by building management. We will send another announcement when service is restored.

Many apologies for this inconvenience.

Beginning March 14, 2008, the location of the Lake County bankruptcy court call will change. Lake County chapter 7 and chapter 13 bankruptcy matters will be no longer be heard in the Lake County Courthouse at 18 North County Street, Waukegan. The call will instead be heard at the Lakehurst Branch Court – Courtroom B. The Lakehurst Branch Court is located at 430 Lakehurst Road, Waukegan.

Because of the new location, the hearing times for Lake County chapter 7 cases will also change. Beginning March 14, 2008, the following schedule be observed in the afternoon:

The hearing times for Lake County chapter 13 cases will remain the same:

In order to permit more time with family and friends, the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of Illinois will be closed on Monday, December 24, 2007 and Tuesday, December 25, 2007 in observance of Christmas Day and Monday, December 31, 2007 and Tuesday, January 1, 2008 in observance of New Year’s Day...
View Administrative Order

View the Survey Results

In order to permit more time with family and friends, the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of Illinois will be closed on Thursday, November 22 and Friday, November 23, 2007 in observance of Thanksgiving Day.

View Administrative Order

Essential upgrades necessitate we remove CM/ECF from service Saturday November 10. This outage will commence at 7:00 AM CST on November 10th and last until approximately 4:00 PM, the same day.

A second piece of system maintenance will require that CM/ECF be removed from service Friday, November 16th at 4:30 PM CST lasting until approximately 4:30 PM, Saturday, November 17th. Service may be restored earlier on the 17th, but it is possible for the outage to last longer. We will provide updates to the term of outage as the status changes.

On October 30, 2007 approximately 7:00 am through 7:30am CMECF/PACER will experience a service outage. It is expected this outage should only last a few minutes.
Voice Case Information System (VCIS), and access to the court's public website will NOT be affected.

During the week of September 10th we will be conducting a survey of our customers here at the bankruptcy court. We have assembled a team of staff members to hand out the surveys and help facilitate completion of it. We are trying to determine what we are doing well, and where we need to make improvements. We are interested in areas concerning access, fairness and our level of service. The survey should take no more than 5 minutes to complete. We would appreciate your feedback!

Thank you
Kenneth S. Gardner
Bankruptcy Clerk

This message is being sent as a reminder that all filing fees are due at the time of filing or by the end of the day. Failure to pay the fees timely will result in order to show cause entered against you as the attorney of record for failure to pay the required fees, and you will be required to appear before the Chief Judge for a hearing.

View announcement

Due to the closing of DuPage County Courthouse all matters scheduled for 8/24/07 will be heard next Friday 8/31/07 at the same time.

Commencing November 1, 2007 through January 31, 2008, Western Division motions will
be heard as follows: every Monday with the exception of November 12, December 24, January 14
and January 21. In addition, motions will be heard on Friday, January 18th. Please set your
motions accordingly.

Morning session:
Chapter 13
trustee motions 9:30 a.m.
attorney/creditor motions 10:00 a.m.
confirmations 10:30 a.m.
Chapter 12
all motions 11:00 a.m.

Afternoon session:
Chapter 7 and Chapter 11
all motions 1:00 p.m.

Trials and hearings will be set by the court at a date mutually agreed upon by the parties.

The United States Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of Illinois requires that the Notice to Individual Consumer Debts under 11 U.S.C. § 342(b) of the Bankruptcy Code, be filed with the petition or within 15 days. 11 U.S.C. §§ 342(b); 521(a)(1)(B)(iii); 707(a)(3).

The Notice to Individual Consumer Debts should be included with the petition and supporting documents and tagged with bookmarks, clearly labeled, and generated by PDF software to permit navigation.

View a copy of the Notice to Individual Consumer Debts under 11 U.S.C. § 342(b) of the Bankruptcy Code (fillable PDF)

View a copy of the Required Lists, Schedules, Statements, and Fees

Assignment of Cases.

View Administrative Order

Reassignment of Chapter 13 Cases.

View Administrative Order

Effective immediately please use the new form, (Rev. 6/25/07).

View PDF version of the announcement

PART-TIME STAFF ATTORNEY
BANKRUPTCY COURT – SELF-HELP ASSISTANCE DESK
Background: The Legal Assistance Foundation of Metropolitan Chicago (LAF), a not-for-profit corporation, is the principal provider of free civil legal services to low-income and elderly persons in Chicago and suburban Cook County. The United States Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of Illinois, and the Chicago Bar Foundation are expanding the pro se help desk.
The help desk provides members of the public with basic information about their legal rights and assists individuals without legal representation who wish to file, or have filed, bankruptcy petitions, or who have claims against people or companies who have filed bankruptcy.
Position: LAF is seeking a staff attorney to work part time (60%) at the bankruptcy help desk, which is located in the United States Bankruptcy Court, 219 S. Dearborn. The attorney will field inquiries from pro se bankruptcy litigants, most of whom will be individuals who are trying to file a bankruptcy petition pro se or who have already filed a bankruptcy pro se and want advice about questions that have come up in their case. He or she will explain bankruptcy filing requirements, court procedures, the options available, such as the difference between Chapter 7 and Chapter 13 cases, and will assist individuals in preparing petitions and other court-related documents. The attorney will not file any documents or represent individuals who seek aid from the help desk. Where appropriate, the attorney will give the individuals information about other programs that may be able to provide legal representation. This staff attorney will work under the supervision of LAF’s bankruptcy supervisor, and will have access to, and the support of, LAF’s wide ranging legal expertise. The attorney will also work closely with United States Bankruptcy Court personnel and with other organizations that help pro se clients. The hours of work are open for discussion: a possible schedule is 9:30 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. daily.
Qualifications: Illinois bar and a minimum of two years of litigation experience required. Experience in bankruptcy court preferred. Candidates must be able to communicate effectively with people from all segments of society.
Salary: D.O.E. Excellent fringe benefits.
Applications: Send resume, cover letter, transcript and names of two references by May 28, 2007 to:
David Yen, Supervisory Attorney
Legal Assistance Foundation of Metropolitan Chicago
111 W. Jackson Blvd., 3rd Floor
Chicago, IL 60604
(fax) (312) 612-1472
E-mail: dyen@lafchicago.org
LAF IS AN EQUAL OPPORTUNITY EMPLOYER

CM/ECF will be removed from service commencing Friday, 5/18/07, at 4:30PM (CDT). This outage is necessary to perform an essential CM/ECF system upgrade to version 3.1.5. Service will be restored by Saturday afternoon, 5/19/07.
We have established a read-only system that will be available during this outage. The location is https://ilnb-rep.ecf.uscourts.gov . You will receive an error/warning about the site certificate. Please accept this warning ONLY FOR THIS DURATION.
Thank your for your cooperation and understanding.

Please view the announcement below and complete the questionnaire if interested.
Volunteer panel announcement
Volunteer panel questionnaire

Requirements for Section 362(c)(3)(B) and (c)(4)(B) Motions

View Standing Order

View PDF version of the announcement

The Bankruptcy Judges of the Northern District of Illinois have amended the procedures for awards of attorney fees in Chapter 13 cases. For cases filed on or after May 1, 2007, a fee of up to $3500 will be allowed without an itemization of services, provided that the debtor and counsel enter into an amended version of the court's Model Retention Agreement, which provides for representation by counsel throughout the pendency of the case. If a previous
Chapter 13 case of the debtor or the debtor's spouse was dismissed within a year of the commencement of the case in which fees are sought, the court retains the discretion to award less than $3500. The option of a flat fee for services rendered only through confirmation has been eliminated. If the new Model Retention Agreement is not entered into, or if counsel seeks a fee greater than $3500, an itemization will be required.
Copies of the General Order implementing this procedure, as well as the revised Model Retention Agreement and a revised form for fee applications are available as follows:

General Order No. 07-02
Model Retention Agreement
Chapter 13 Fee Application

Effective immediately please cease the use of the older versions of this form and begin using the new form dated 02/20/07.

View Form

Effective immediately please cease the use of the older versions of this form and begin using the new form dated 02/20/07.

View Form

Effective Monday, April 16,2007, Official Form B-21, Statement of Social Security Number, must be submitted with every petition for an individual debtor. The form is required per Bankruptcy Rule 1007(f). Currently, the Statement of Social Security Number has not been a required document for electronically filed petitions. This change is being made to insure that the Court records are correct and complete. The Statement must be entered as a separate filing, using the event, Statement of Social Security Number. Using this event will insure that the docket entry is not viewable by the public. Thank you for your cooperation.

Section I , C New subsection 8, Revocation of Password, under DESIGNATION OF CASES , PASSWORDS, REGISTRATION AND APPEARANCE OF ATTORNEYS, that allows the Clerk of Court to invalidate the password of an attorney who is disbarred or suspended. The Clerk will notify the attorney as required by this procedure.

Section II. Clarified language under FILING AND SERVICE OF DOCUMENTS , subsection B-4, Certificate of Service, that further specifies the required information to be included in a Certificate of Service.

Section II. Eliminated the requirement under FILING AND SERVICE OF DOCUMENTS, subsection C-2, Original Attorney Signatures, that attorneys include their attorney registration number on each filing.

If you have any questions about the changes, please contact our ECF Help Desk at 312-408-7765.

View Administrative Procedures for CM/ECF

(ROCKFORD ONLY)
Telephonic appearances are no longer arranged directly with Chambers. A
private company, Tele-Court, Inc., has been licensed by the Administrative Office of the
U.S. Courts to provide telephonic appearance services to attorneys for a fee. Tele-
Court does not set or calendar hearings for the Court, but rather only facilitates the
telephonic appearance of an attorney at hearings that have already been scheduled.
Permission will be denied on all scheduled telephonic appearances for matters
that do not comply with these guidelines. The fact that an attorney schedules a
telephonic appearance on Tele-Court’s system does not mean that a telephonic
appearance is permitted by the Court. Attorneys and parties who schedule telephonic
appearances are solely responsible for compliance with the Court’s rules and
procedures for telephonic appearances.
The Court allows the use of telephonic appearances on all matters except as follows:
1. No telephonic appearances are permitted for pre-trial conferences and
matters set for oral argument;
2. All sworn testimony must be presented in open court.
3. Only attorneys of record may appear telephonically.
Contacting Tele-Court to Arrange a Telephonic Appearance: Telephonic appearances
are scheduled online at www.tele-court.com. Persons without internet access can
schedule a telephonic appearance by calling (800) 924-5680. The fee payable to Tele-
Court for each attorney appearing telephonically is $10 plus 25 cents per minute. A
refundable deposit of $25 per call per appearing attorney is required at the time the
telephonic appearance is scheduled, which is payable by credit card or other form of
advance payment. Each appearing attorney is responsible for the charges applicable to
his/her individual connection.
Deadline: Telephonic appearances must be scheduled on Tele-Court’s system by 8:00
a.m. (CST) on the business day prior to the hearing date.
Dialing in to the Conference: Callers make a telephonic appearance by dialing a toll-free
number provided by Tele-Court five minutes before the scheduled hearing time and
providing the unique PIN number obtained at the time of scheduling.
Speaker-phone, Cellular Phones and Other Distractions: The use of speaker-phones,
cellular phones or phones in public places is strongly discouraged.
Conference Procedure: Although individual case conferences may occur as directed by
the Court, all persons making telephonic appearances typically will be connected to a
single conference call that is joined to on-going court proceedings via a speaker-phone
in the courtroom. All participants should mute their line until their matter is called to
avoid disturbing the courtroom with extraneous noise. Telephone participants must
identify themselves each time they begin speaking.

View PDF version of the announcement.

CM/ECF will be down from 8:00 pm to approximately 8:30 pm CST for emergency maintenance.

Pursuant to General Order 07-01, for all Chapter 13 cases filed on or after October 17, 2005, the debtor must file a Debtor's Declaration Regarding Domestic Support Obligations in order to receive a discharge. In joint cases, each debtor must file and complete a separate form. The form(s) must be filed at the time that the Chapter 13 trustee indicates that all plan payments have been completed. Chapter 13 trustees will now file a Notice of Completion of Plan Payments to alert the debtor that the Declaration needs to be filed. This new procedure is effective immediately. If you have any questions, please contact our ECF Help Desk at 312-408-7765.

The Illinois Northern Bankruptcy Court's website, www.ilnb.uscourts.gov, will be down on Sunday February 4, 2007 at approximately 5pm for system maintenance. The outage is expected to last until 8pm (3 hours). The CM/ECF system (https://ecf.ilnb.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/login.pl) will still be available during the outage period.

View Administrative Order 06-02

View Fee Schedule

CM/ECF will be removed from service commencing Friday, 12/15/06, at 4:30PM (CST) for scheduled maintenance. Service will be restored by Saturday afternoon, 12/16/2006.
Thank your for your cooperation and understanding.

Effective immediately please notice all motions for Joliet at the address listed below:
Will County Court Annex Building
57 North Ottawa Street, Room 201
Joliet, Illinois 60432
In addition, please select this location when E-filing motions.
If you have any questions, please contact our ECF Help Desk at 312-408-7765

View Administrative Order 06-01

CM/ECF will be removed from service commencing Friday, 10/13/06, at 4:30PM (CDT). This outage is necessary to perform an essential CM/ECF system upgrade, version 3.1, to support the BAPCPA legislation. Service will be restored by Saturday afternoon, 10/14/2006.
We have established a read-only system that will be available during this outage. The location is https://ilnb-rep.ecf.uscourts.gov . You will receive an error/warning about the site certificate. Please accept this warning ONLY FOR THIS DURATION.
Please check our Internet web site, "www.ilnb.uscourts.gov" for updates.
Information regarding the BAPCPA legislation is available on our web site under "Bankruptcy Reform Act Information".
Thank your for your cooperation and understanding.

View PDF

Official Forms approved by the Executive Committee of the Judicial Conference of the United States on September 19, 2005 and Committee Notes to be used effective October 1, 2006. The court is working to make the revised forms fillable, but in the meantime please review the revised and new forms at:
"http://www.uscourts.gov/bankform/index.html"

When filing any event that requires a selection from the Location List, do not select any locations that have an X at the beginning of the location. These locations have been retired from use and should never be used. When a retired location is selected, it causes the docket text to record the incorrect hearing information

New Plan to be used immediately and required for all plans filed on or after September 15, 2006

Please be advised the payment of filing fees over the internet will be unavailable during the following periods:
Start : Sunday, August 13th, 2006 2:00 AM EDT
End : Sunday, August 13th, 2006 8:00 AM EDT
You will still be able to view and docket information using CM/ECF during these periods, but you will not be able to make credit card payments.
Thank you for your patience and understanding as this required maintenance is performed.

CM/ECF will be removed from service commencing Friday, 08/18/06, at 4:00PM CDT. This outage is necessary to perform an essential system upgrade. Service will be restored by Sunday evening 08/20/06.
Please check our Internet web site, "www.ilnb.uscourts.gov" for updates.
Thank your for your cooperation and understanding.

The court will be installing a new version of CM/ECF the weekend of June 16 - 18. To accomplish this CM/ECF will be removed from service at 4:00 P.M., Friday June 16th. Service is expected to be restored by Saturday evening the 17th.
There are many parts to this upgrade. Under best circumstances service may be restored as early as Saturday afternoon. Under less than ideal circumstances we may not have things back in service until Sunday. We will send a message to you when the system is up, but you may also test for system availability by logging in any time after Saturday noon.
If you wish to try the new version of CM/ECF you may do so by visiting "https://ecf-test.ilnb.uscourts.gov/" and logging-in. The same login name and password you use in our Live area will work in the Test area. Please be certain you are in the Test area. Click here to view a screenshot. If the screen you see does not look like the screenshot DO NOT perform any data entry If you or your organization have developed any automated processes used with CM/ECF we strongly urge you to test them in our Test area before you use them with this new version of CM/ECF.
Thank you for attention and understanding.

New Plan to be used immediately and required for all plans filed on or after July 1, 2006

-Form 3B, Application for Waiver of Chapter 7 Filing Fee (Microsoft Word)
-Form 200, Required Lists, Schedules, Statements and Fees (WordPerfect)
-Form 201, Notice to Individual Consumer Debtor (WordPerfect)
-Form 1, Voluntary Petition (Instructions only revised) (WordPerfect)

We will be taking CM/ECF out of service briefly Thursday morning for essential maintenance.
We hope this is not too inconvenient and appreciate your understanding.

FILING FEES
Chapter 7 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $299
Chapter 9 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $1039
Chapter 11 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $1039
Chapter 12 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $239
Chapter 13 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $274
Chapter 15 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $1039
Adversary Proceeding . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$250
Notice of Appeal (or cross Appeal) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $255
Motions to Modify Stay, Motions to Compel Abandonment of
Property, Motions to withdraw the reference under 28USC157(d) . . . .$150
Application for Pro Hac Vice (for cases filed on or after 2/1/01) . . . . . . $50
Application for Pro Hac Vice (for cases prior to 2/1/01) . . . . . . . . . . . .$100
Registration of Judgment from another District . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $39
Creditor Schedule Amendments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $26
Split case - chapter 7 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$220
Split case - chapter 13 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$150
Split case - chapter 11 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$1000
CONVERSION FEES for cases filed prior to April 9, 2006
Notice and/or Motion to convert a case to chapter 7 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $15
Converting a chapter 7 to a chapter 11 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $780
Converting a chapter 13 to a chapter 11 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $850
CONVERSION FEES for cases filed on or after to April 9, 2006
Notice and/or Motion to convert a case to chapter 7 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $15
Converting a chapter 7 to a chapter 11 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $755
Converting a chapter 13 to a chapter 11 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $765
MISCELLANEOUS FEES
Retrieval of Record from Federal Records Center . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$45
Search of the Records (per name or item searched) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$26
Certification of any Document or paper . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$9
Exemplification of any Document or paper . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$18
Copies (per page,paper) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$0.50
Copies (electronic print fee per page) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$0.10
Returned check for NSF . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$45
REOPENING FEES
Chapter 7 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$220
Chapter 13 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$150
Chapter 11 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$1000
For more details on bankruptcy fees, please refer to 28 U.S.C. 1930

A voluntary petition by an individual shall be accepted for filing if accompanied by the debtor’s signed application, (Official Form 3) stating that the debtor is unable to pay the filing fee except in installments, and that until the filing fee is paid in full, the debtor will not make any additional payment or transfer any additional property to an attorney or any other person for services in connection with the case.
The application shall state the debtor shall pay the filing fee according to the following terms:

1) the full filing fee shall be paid in four equal installment payments;
Chapter 7 - four equal installment payments of $68.50
Chapter 13 - four equal installment payments of $47.25

2) the first installment is to be paid within 30 days, and at least half of the filing fee must be paid within 60 days of the filing of the petition;

3) the final installment payment shall be payable not later than 120 days after filing the petition;

The application may be completed with a “/s/” in place of the debtor’s signature and filed as a PDF.

 

The Declaration Regarding Electronic Filing must be filed and signed by the debtor.

Failure to:

• File an Application to Pay Filing Fee in Installments, in accordance with General Order No. 05-05,
• File a Declaration Regarding Electronic Filing, or
• Pay the initial installment amount will result in the case being referred to the assigned judge for resolution.

Subsequent installment payments must be mailed to the Clerk’s Office or paid in person at the Intake Counter.

Due to technical problems with the Court's CM/ECF site you will be redirect to the replica version of the site. You will only be able to run queries and reports.
Normal service is expected to be restored within the next couple hours.

The court will be closed on Friday, November 25, 2005. CM/ECF will be available for electronic filing.

Due to the volume of prose filings being received over the Intake Counter we are temporarily suspending all outside access to ECF. We will bring the system up as soon as possible, but estimate it will not be available for Electronic Filing until 10:00 PM this evening.

The Training CM/ECF system will be removed from service on Monday, October 17, 2005 at 12:00 AM. This, to provide an opportunity to upgrade the system to make it compliant with the “ Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act of 2005 ". The system may be down most of Monday, but we will post a message on our Website when it is available.

FILING FEES
Chapter 7 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $274
Chapter 9 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $1039
Chapter 11 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $1039
Chapter 12 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $239
Chapter 13 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $189
Chapter 15 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $1039
Adversary Proceeding . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $2501
Notice of Appeal (or cross Appeal) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $255
Motions to Modify Stay, Motions to Compel Abandonment of
Property, Motions to withdraw the reference under 28USC157(d) . . . . . . $150
Application for Pro Hac Vice (for cases filed on or after 2/1/01) . . . $50
Application for Pro Hac Vice (for cases prior to 2/1/01) . . . . . . . .$100
Registration of Judgment from another District . . . . . . . . . . . . $39
Creditor Schedule Amendments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $26
Split case - chapter 7 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $220
Split case - chapter 13 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $150
Split case - chapter 11 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $1000
CONVERSION FEES
Motion to convert a case to chapter 7 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $15
Converting a chapter 7 to a chapter 11 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $780
Converting a chapter 13 to a chapter 11 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $850
MISCELLANEOUS FEES
Retrieval of Record from Federal Records Center . . . . . . . . . . $45
Search of the Records (per name or item searched) . . . . . . . . . $26
Certification of any Document or paper . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $9
Exemplification of any Document or paper . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $18
Copies (per page,paper) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $0.50
Copies (electronic print fee per page) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $0.10
Returned check for NSF . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $45
REOPENING FEES
The amount of the filing fee for the appropriate chapter of the particular case on
the date of reopening.
For more details on bankruptcy fees, please refer to 28 U.S.C. 1930
1The Adversary Proceeding fee of $250 became effective September 20, 2005.

The new plan must be used with all Chapter 13 cases filed on or after October 17, 2005.

The Bankruptcy Court Liaison Committee was formed to promote communication about Court procedures, etiquette, filings and other issues, and to assist the Court and attorneys in creating a more efficient environment. Additionally, the Committee develops and sponsors education programs concerning issues affecting the bench, attorneys, financial institutions and consumers. The Committee also creates social opportunities to allow greater interaction between the Court and those who appear before it.
The Committee provides an opportunity to relay issues, concerns or ideas to the Committee – anonymously – through any of the Committee Members. The information will then be presented to the Bankruptcy Judges for their review and consideration.

Scheduled CM/ECF outage 09/02/05 6:00pm(CST) - 09/03/05 2:00PM (CST)
The court will be performing system maintenance. CM/ECF will be removed from service at 6:00 PM on Friday, 09/02/05. Service is estimated to be restored Saturday 09/03/05 at approximately 2:00pm (CST).

effective September 20, 2005. View notice

effective September 15, 2005. View procedures

Today 8/18/2005 at 12:00 p.m.

Today 8/16/2005 at 12:30 p.m.

Effective Immediately.
Application for permission to pay filing fee in installments is now accepted for electronically
filed cases (ECF).
The requirements to file a case electronically and pay the fee in installments are:
File an application, Official Bankruptcy Form 3, stating that the debtor is unable to pay
the filing fee except in installments. The application shall state the proposed terms of the
installments payments and the applicant has neither paid any money nor transferred any
property to an attorney for services in connection with the case. The application may be
completed with a “/s/” in place of the debtor’s signature and filed as a PDF.
The Declaration Regarding Electronic Filing must be filed and signed by the debtor.
Failure to:
• File an Application to Pay Filing Fee in Installments, in accordance with Local
Rule 1006-1,
• File a Declaration Regarding Electronic Filing, or
• Pay the initial installment amount
will result in the case being referred to the assigned judge for resolution.
Subsequent installment payments must be mailed to the Clerk’s Office or paid in person at the
Intake Counter.

Effective July 1, 2005
The Declaration Regarding Electronic Filing, required when filing a petition electronically
(ECF) or on diskette, has been revised. For installment cases, the signature of the debtor(s) on the “Declaration” will take the place of the signature of the debtor(s) on the Application to Pay Filing Fees in Installment. The installment Application can be completed using the /s/ for the signature of the debtor(s) and filed in PDF format.
There are two versions of the Declaration Regarding Electronic Filing form. One form to use
when filing a petition electronically (ECF) and another when filing a petition on diskette. The
“Declaration” to use when filing a petition electronically (ECF) only requires the signature of the debtor(s). The “Declaration” to use when filing a petition on a diskette requires the signature of both the debtor and attorney. Please be sure to use the appropriate form.

If you fail to pay your fees by the end of the day you will be prevented from further e-filing until all fees are paid. You may pay your fees at any time by running the “Internet Fees Due” report which is found under the CM/ECF “Utilities Menu”.
We are aware of some problems users have experienced when attempting to pay the required fees on-line. This may be due to the following problems:

1. “Cookies” and other Internet files: Your computer and Internet browser software attempt to optimize your use of the Internet by saving information about the sites you visit in these specialized files. On occasion the computer will become confused as to which is correct and most current, the data coming from the web site or the local cookie and Internet files. When this happens the best thing to do is to clear (delete) the cookie and Internet files. Click here for more information on clearing cache and temporary files.

2. “Pop-up Blockers”: Many firms and attorneys use a type of software product called a “Pop-up Blocker”. As the name implies the software will block pop-up advertisements from appearing on your computer. Unfortunately, the prompts to make your payments on the courts system is presented to you using the pop-up method. When the pop-up blocker is turned on, the Payment Information screen will not be displayed. In order to make payments in CM/ECF, you will need to allow pop-up windows to display. Activating and deactivating the pop-up blocker can vary from one software product to another. Use of your software is best explained to you by your technical support. Click here for more information on the Pop-up Blocker feature.

3. Pay.gov: This application was developed by the U.S. Treasury and is the service used by all Bankruptcy Courts to process transactions over the internet. Pay.gov has experienced processing difficulties from time to time, though most have been of less than an hour’s duration. These failures prevent you from paying the filing fee at the time you are filing. If this occurs we ask that you continue filing and make your payment later in the day.

If you are experiencing any technical problems please call the ECF Help Desk at 312- 408-7765.

Effective Immediately

Step-by-step Procedures:

1) Follow normal process to open Lead case;
2) Run Judge Trustee Assignment for Lead case only;
3) File each additional case. Do not run Judge Trustee Assignment for each additional case;
4) Select Continue Filing.

The Bankruptcy Clerks Office personnel will be responsible for assigning the Judge of the Lead case to all related bankruptcy cases filed electronically. In order to complete the Judge Assignment process please contact Arnaldo Rivera, Manager of Public and Courtroom Services upon the completion of the related filings at 773 495-5842 or 312 435-6869.

Effective July 1, 2005, the court will no longer accept paper documents for filing. All documents submitted to the court must be submitted electronically through the court’s electronic
filing system (CM/ECF). To submit filings via the electronic system, you must complete a
training class and certification assignment prior to being issued a login and password. Please visit our website at www.ilnb.uscourts.gov to register for your training class.
Individuals without legal representation may file documents in paper form.

View Administrative Procedures ( amended )

Effective January 3, 2005 all documents commencing either a bankruptcy case (petition, lists, schedules, statements, plans, installment agreements, declarations) or adversary proceeding (complaint, cover sheet, summons), not filed via the internet must be submitted on a computer diskette, CDROM, or DVD. The accuracy and completeness of these documents shall be the total responsibility of the debtor and debtor’s attorney. View Filing Requirements.

Pro se filers are exempt from this requirement.

For your convenience the court has made most of these forms available on our Bankruptcy Forms Web Page , in a fillable PDF format. Instructions on how to create a PDF document and bookmarks may be obtained from our ECF User’s Manual. Search for PDF and then select Creating PDF and, or Creating Bookmarks in a PDF document.

In order to insure that the documents you file can be properly processed by the computer system, we ask that you observe the guidelines attached to this notice. Your cooperation is essential in helping us make improvements to our system and better serve you - the public.

Request for Waiver of the Diskette, CDROM, or DVD

If financial constraints and/or the inability to access the equipment necessary to produce a computer diskette would cause an undue hardship on the debtor, a motion must be presented to the Chief Judge.

Effective Immediately
Based on the Standing Order effective December 1, 2004, the following procedural guidelines clarify how this document should be filed.

The Notice of Motion, should reflect the Confirmation Hearing Date, if initial request.
Follow the guidelines in the General Order on Service. See link below.

http://www.ilnb.uscourts.gov/Announcements/stand_order_ch13_fee_app_notice.pdf

Chapter 13 Fee Application
Use the latest version, dated 07/12/04. Type the attorney's name and Bar ID under the Signature line. Do not include an additional Motion. The Chapter 13 Fee Application serves as the motion for both initial and post-confirmation requests.

If Itemization is submitted, use the approved form and include as an attachment.
If the Model Retention Agreement is submitted, use the approved form and include as an attachment.

Note: It is only necessary to attach the Model Retention Agreement if the Judge has requested that it be filed. Also, please do not file the Model Retention Agreement with the petition. If required, it should be filed with the Chapter 13 Fee Application, so the Judge has all pertinent documents to consider when awarding fees.

If an Affidavit is submitted, include as an attachment.

Attach a Proposed Order, using the approved form, and a minute order.

This procedure applies to all Chapter 13 Fee Applications: initial requests and requests for postconfirmation fees.

Copies of the approved forms are available on the Court’s web site.

http://www.ilnb.uscourts.gov/

For our ECF Filers:
Please use the event, Compensation with Notice of Motion and docket any additional documents as attachments, as described above.

This change is being made to standardize the filing and docketing process under CM/ECF.
Please click on this link to review the details of this change, as well as other revised documentation.

http://www.ilnb.uscourts.gov/roboinfo/external_manual.htm

If you have any questions please contact our Help Desk at 312 408-7765 or by e-mail at:
ecf train@ilnb.uscourts.gov.

from 3:00 PM Friday 12/10/04 until 4:00 PM Saturday 12/11/04.

A fee increase from 7 cents per page to 8 cents per page for public access to court electronic records (PACER) was approved by the Judicial Conference of the United States at its September 2004 session. The fee increase applies to all systems (CM/ECF, PACER, RACER, etc.) and became effective January 1, 2005. The 30 page cap on case-related documents and reports (excluding transcripts) will remain in effect. However, the maximum cost will be $2.40. The new fee schedule is available by clicking here.

If you have any questions, please contact the PACER Service Center at pacer@psc.uscourts.gov.

Effective Monday, November 15, 2004, we implemented a change in how an Objection to Confirmation should be filed. The document should be titled Objection to Confirmation of Plan. You should also accompany the Objection with a Notice of Filing. There is no need to schedule a hearing date as all Objections will be heard at the Confirmation Hearing.

The document should NOT be filed as a Motion or combined with any other Motion. This change is being made to standardize the filing and docketing process under CM/ECF.

If you attach a proposed order, it should be titled Order Confirming Plan or Order Denying Confirmation. Please do not submit any proposed orders titled Order Sustaining or Overruling Objection.

For our ECF filers, please click on the following link to review the details of this change as well as other revised documentation. roboinfo

If you have any questions please contact our Help Desk at 312 408-7765 or by email at ecf_train@ilnb.uscourts.gov.

Chapter 13 Fee Applications Notice and Hearing Required.
View Order

In observance of the Thanksgiving Holiday the Court will be closed Friday, November 26, 2004.
View Order

This form, Itemization of Services, has been revised and must be used beginning October 19, 2004. A copy of the revised form can be found on the Court's website under Local Bankruptcy Form Orders.
For our ECF filers, the process to docket this form has changed. Whenever the Itemization accompanies a Chapter 13 Fee Application, it should be docketed as an attachment instead of a separate pleading. The form is now listed as one as one of the options that appear in the attachment list.

Beginning 09/10/04 at 3:00 PM

revised

The Required Statement has been revised and must be used beginning August 2, 2004. A copy of the revised form can be found on the Court's website under Forms and Orders - Bankruptcy Forms.
For our ECF filers, the process to docket a Motion to Modify Stay will change. The Required Statement that accompanies the Motion should be docketed as an attachment instead of a separate pleading.
The Statement will be listed as one as one of the options that appear in the attachment list.

Mandatory as of August 16, 2004

Required Statement when modifying the automatic stay.
View Order

Chapter 7 fees
View Order

Sunday 2/15/2004 and Friday 2/20/2004.

To all parties, effective December 1, 2003 only the last four digits of a debtors social security
number will be displayed in CM/ECF.

Attorneys, petition filers and pro se debtors are required to file:

• New bankruptcy cases using the petition, Official Form 1 which will contain only
  the last four digits of individual debtors’ Social Security numbers
• Submit Form 21. STATEMENT OF SOCIAL SECURITY NUMBER
• Documents using the current versions of the Official Bankruptcy Forms -
  including the Voluntary Petition, Involuntary Petition, Schedules, Statement of
  Financial Affairs, and Proof of Claim.

 

Form B21

STATEMENT OF SOCIAL SECURITY NUMBER

• will not be kept in the general file but will be placed in a dated binder.
• should be received stamped only as it will not be entered onto the docket sheet.
• should not be included on the creditor matrix diskette, or submitted on any floppy
  diskette.

 

Form B21, the statement of Social Security number, is confidential and is not to be given out to the public via the counter, or, in person. The party must get leave of court to obtain the Form B21. It does not matter if the requestor is a creditor in the case!

 

Failure of attorneys or pro se filers to submit Form B21 STATEMENT OF SOCIAL SECURITY NUMBER with their new case filing will cause a deficiency notice to be issued requiring the Social Security number to submitted by a date certain or the case would be dismissed.

 

Public service clerks cannot refuse to accept any petition that does not comply with the new privacy rules. When a filer files a bankruptcy case with the old forms which do not comply with the new privacy rules the public service clerk will accept the filing and create a deficiency form.

 

Deputy clerks cannot give out the debtor(s) social security number(s) out to any party who requests it via the telephone, in person, or, through a copy request.

 

If a party is requesting verification of the social security number by giving the deputy clerk the social security number then the deputy clerk will advise the party if the social security number they were given matches, or, does not match. The deputy clerks are not allowed to give the party the debtors social security number when the number the party gives does not match.

 

Any party wishing to obtain access to a debtors’ social security number will have to file a motion with the Bankruptcy Judge who is assigned the case.

 

Under the new privacy rules, the section 341 meeting notice sent to the debtor’s mailing list (creditors and other parties) is the only notice which must include the debtor’s full Social Security number.

 

Two copies of the sectional 341 notice will go out. One with the redacted social security number which goes into the general file and one with the complete social security number which goes out to all listed creditors

 

Section 341 meeting notice will include a box listing all other names used by the debtor in the last six years.

 

After the first meeting notice any other notice will have only the redacted SSN, if any at all.

 

The redacted social security number will be displayed as “xxx-xx-1234".

 

The BNC Certificate of Service will state “that the notice sent to creditors has the full Social

 

Security number, whereas the court’s copy has been redacted.”

Chapter 7 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $209
Chapter 13 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $194
Chapter 11 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $839
Chapter 12 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $239
Adversary Complaint . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..$150
Notice of Appeal (or cross Appeal) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $5
Docketing Appeal (or cross Appeal) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..$250
Motions to Modify Stay, Motions to Compel Abandonment of
Property, Motions to withdraw the reference under 28USC157(d) . . $150
Motion to convert a case to chapter 7 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $15
Retrieval of Record from Federal Records Center . . . . . . . . . . . . . $45
Creditor Schedule Amendments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $26
Registration of Judgment from another District . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $39
Search of the Records (per name or item searched) . . . . . . . . . . . $26
Certification of any Document or paper . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$9
Exemplification of any Document or paper . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $18
Fee for Splitting Case - Chapter 7 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $155
Fee for Splitting Case - Chapter 11 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $800
Fee for Splitting Case - Chapter 12 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $200
Fee for Splitting Case - Chapter 13 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $155
Copies (per page,paper) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$0.50
Copies (electronic print fee per page) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $0.10
Returned check for NSF . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$45
For more details on bankruptcy fees, please refer to 28 U.S.C. 1930
revised October 2003

Effective June 1, 2003
View Procedures

The following changes will be effective with the implementation of the CM portion of CM/ECF, or mandated with the implementation of the new Local Rules effective June 1, 2003. The court will be implementing the CM portion of CM/ECF on June 16, 2003.

There will be some small differences in the appearance of the screens an Internet user will use to access the court’s case dockets and document images. You may view a tutorial of the new process by clicking on the following hypertext link:

/cmEcf/Pacer/index.html

Creditor Matrix on Diskette

Local Rule 1007-1

The debtor shall prepare and submit to the Court, at the time a voluntary petition under any chapter is filed, a mailing matrix on computer diskette which complies with the computerized noticing guidelines. Click here to review the current specifications. Upon motion for cause shown, the court may excuse compliance. Pro se debtors are exempt from this rule.

You may submit a sample, or test diskette to the court in advance of our CM live date to verify that you and or your software are able to properly create a Creditor Matrix Diskette.

Please direct your sample diskettes and any questions to Arnaldo Rivera, Customer Service Manager. His telephone number is 312 435-6869.

Assignment of Related Cases

Local Rule 1015-1

For purposes of assignment, a case shall be assigned to the judge of a previously assigned case under the following circumstances:

if the debtor’s spouse has filed a case and it is still pending; or

if a case was previously commenced by or against the same debtor and is still pending; or

the debtor was a debtor in a previous case under Chapter 11 of the Bankruptcy Code; or

the cases involve persons or entities that are affiliates as defined in §101(2) of the Bankruptcy Code.

Notice of Amendments to Voluntary Petitions, Lists or Schedules; Notice to Creditors Added After First Notice is Mailed

Local Rule 1009-1

The debtor shall serve amendments to voluntary petitions, lists or schedules under Fed. R. Bankr. P. 1009 (a) on all creditors, the trustee, and in a Chapter 11 case, on the United States Trustee and any official committee of unsecured creditors, and shall file a proof of such service with the clerk. In addition, if the debtor adds any creditors to the schedules after the first notice of the meeting of creditors under §341 or 1104(b) of the Bankruptcy Code has been mailed, the debtor shall serve each such creditor, by first-class or certified mail, with a copy of the original notice of the meeting of creditors, and shall file a proof of such service with the clerk.

341 Notices on Chapter 13 Petitions

The Clerk’s Office will schedule 341 Meetings and Confirmation Hearings upon the filing of the petition. Notice will be issued even if the Chapter 13 Plan is not filed.

Chapter 13 Plans and Amended Plans

The Clerk’s Office will send a copy of the plan or amended plan to all creditors and parties in interest.

Chapter 11 Claim Register

The Claim Register will only list proofs of claim that have been filed with the Clerk’s Office. A claim record will no longer be created based on the claim amounts listed in the schedules.

 

Conversion by One Debtor Under a Joint Petition

Local Rule 1019-1

When only one of two joint debtors in a joint petition files a notice of intent or motion to convert, upon payment of any required additional filing fees, the clerk shall divide the case into two separate cases and assign a case number to the new case. The debtor seeking to convert his or her case shall give notice to the other joint debtor as well as all other parties entitled to notice under the Bankruptcy Code and Bankruptcy Rules, and shall be responsible for the payment of all required fees. Each debtor shall file within 15 days of division of the case all necessary amendments to the schedules and statement of financial affairs.

New Case Number Format

You will not be required to change the way you display the case number on your pleadings. You will notice a difference in the way the new system will display case numbers on some screens. Case and party data for the Eastern and Western Divisions will be consolidated in CM/ECF. The following outlines what each part of the new, fully distinguished, case number represents.

1234567890123
0:YY-TY-#####

1 = Office Code, 1 for Chicago and 3 for Rockford
2 = colon
3 and 4 = the year the case was filed during
5 = hyphen
6 and 7 = Case Type,
8 = hyphen
9 - 13 = five digit case number

Bankruptcy = BK
Split Cases = BK
Adversary Proceeding = AP
Miscellaneous Proceeding = MP

... the Local Rules of the Bankruptcy Court be adopted effective June 1, 2003.
View Order

IT IS ORDERED THAT, effective Tuesday, February 11, 2003, all Chapter 13 cases pending on the calendar of Judge Eugene R. Wedoff, and all related pending Adversary Proceedings, will be reassigned to the calendar of Judge Jacqueline P. Cox.
View Order

IT IS ORDERED that all pending cases, and any related Adversary Proceedings on Calendar “A” are reassigned to Judge A. Benjamin Goldgar.
View Order

IT IS ORDERED that all pending Chapter 7 and 11 cases, and any related Adversary
Proceedings on Calendar “B” are reassigned to Judge Pamela S. Hollis.
View Order

IT IS ORDERED that all Chapter 13 cases and related Adversary Proceedings pending before Judge William Altenberger where the domicile, residence, principal place of business or principal assets of the person or entity is Cook County are reassigned to Calendar “A”.
View Order

IT IS ORDERED that all pending Cook County Chapter 13 cases, and any related Adversary Proceedings, on the calendar of Judge Carol A. Doyle are reassigned to Judge Bruce W. Black.
View Order

IT IS ORDERED that all pending Chapter 7 and 11 cases, and any related Adversary Proceedings, except the three cases listed below and any related Adversary Proceedings thereto, on the calendar of Judge Ronald Barliant are reassigned to Calendar B.
View Order

IT IS HEREBY ORDERED THAT the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of Illinois shall be closed on Friday, July 5, 2002.
View Order

Internet access to case document images will not be available for part, perhaps all of this coming weekend.  Access to case documents will cease at approximately 9:00pm on Friday, June 21 at 9:00pm.
Best case - services maybe restored early morning Saturday.  Worst case - services may not be restored until sometime Sunday, June 23, 2002.
You may wish to try to connect from time to time.

The Seventh Circuit Judicial Conference is scheduled for May 6 and 7, 2002.
Therefore, the Judges of the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of Illinois will not be sitting on May 6 and May 7, 2002.
View Order

IT IS ORDERED that General Order No. 02-02 dated March 26, 2002 regarding the assignment
of Chapter 7, Chapter 11, and Chapter 13 cases is amended to provide that Judge Robert Ginsberg will no longer be assigned any new Chapter 7, Chapter 11, and Chapter 13 cases, or related adversary proceedings.
View Order

IT IS ORDERED that all pending Lake County Chapter 7 cases, all pending Chapter 13 cases, and any related Adversary Proceedings, except the cases listed below and any related Adversary Proceedings thereto, on the calendar of Judge Ronald Barliant are reassigned to Judge Jack B. Schmetterer.
View Order

The U.S. Bankruptcy Court of the Northern District of Illinois would like to host a weekly demonstration of our Evidence Presentation equipment.  
The demonstration will be held in Courtroom 760, once a week on Thursdays between 1:00pm - 3:00pm. 
The demonstration is by appointment only.

Due to certain technical difficulties the court will not commence billing for access to case document images until September 4, 2001. In the meantime, we will continue to keep the billing structure in place to help you become acquainted with the new screens.

Important Notice

Effective Monday, September 4, 2001, the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of Illinois will charge a fee of $.07 per page for users accessing public records in individual cases through the court’s Internet site. The access fee of $.07 per page will apply to electronic dockets and imaged documents. Access to other areas of the court’s Website, i.e., local rules, court forms, news items, court calendars, opinions,

etc. will remain available at no cost. The fee applies to the United States. As of September 4, 2001, users will need a PACER account to gain access to electronic dockets and imaged documents. Users of our dial-in service can continue to use the login and password previously issued to them. If you do not have a PACER account, link to http://pacer.psc.uscourts.gov/register.html or call the PACER Service Center at (800) 676-6856 to obtain a PACER Registration Form. It takes about a week to receive a login and password from the PACER Service Center.

The court may, for good cause, exempt persons or classes of persons from the fees, in order to avoid unreasonable burdens and to promote public access to such information. Exemptions may be granted as the exception, not as the rule. The exemption language is intended to accommodate those users who might otherwise not have access to the information in this electronic form. It is not intended to provide a means by which a court would exempt all users. Requests for exemptions should be directed to Chief Judge Susan Pierson Sonderby.

The access fee of $.07 per page was adopted by the Judicial Conference of the United States at it’s September 1998 meeting.

The Office of the Cook County Treasurer has informed the Bankruptcy Court that property records can only be located by the property index number (PIN), not by owner’s name or property address. Real estate tax sales may go forward after bankruptcies are filed unless that office gets notice of the PIN number (shown on tax bill for each real estate parcel) along with notice of the bankruptcy filing.
In order to avoid tax sales and the additional cost to set them aside, PIN numbers for each parcel of real estate for which a tax debt is due should be listed as the “account number” called for on Schedule “D”. All correspondence with the Office of the County Treasurer, including notice of the bankruptcy filing, should state the PIN number for each real estate parcel affected.
May 18, 2001

Trustees' Exemption from Public Access Fees
View Order

Beginning Thursday, April 5, 2001 (and every Thursday thereafter) help is available at
The Dirksen Federal Courthouse 219 S. Dearborn St. – Room 622
The Help Desk is open from 11:00 A.M. – 2:00 P.M.

Sponsored by
the Pro Bono Bankruptcy Subcommittee of the Chicago Bar Association Bankruptcy and Reorganization Committee

The Office of the Cook County Treasurer has informed the Bankruptcy Court that it will undertake to obtain a sale-in-error determination from the State Court with respect to any tax sale conducted after a bankruptcy case was filed by or against the legal or beneficial owner of the property. See 35 ILCS 200/21-310.
Requests should be made to the

This procedure may be more efficient and less expensive than proceeding to enforce the automatic stay.

March 29, 2001

Bankruptcy Judges for Northern District of Illinois will not be sitting on May 21-22, 2001
View Order

Pursuant to Bankruptcy Rule 400(B) the U. S. Bankruptcy Court will require the Illinois Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Commission identification number be included on all petitions, pleadings and other paper offered for filing. Clerk’s office employees will use this number to identify attorneys in our case management database. At present we use a combination of letters from the attorney’s first name and last names. This has caused some confusion when two attorneys have similar names. Using the Attorney identification number will improve the accuracy of our database. We need your cooperation.
This is effective immediately.
Thank you.
Wayne E. Nelson
Bankruptcy Clerk

The Judicial Conference, at its September 2000 session, approved amendments to Official Bankruptcy Form 7, the Statement of Financial Affairs. This form must be completed by the debtor in every bankruptcy case.

The form has been amended to provide additional information requested by taxing authorities, pension fund supervisors, and governmental units charged with environmental protection and regulation. Four new questions have been added to the form.

The new questions concern:

     • community property owned by a debtor and the debtor’s non-filing spouse or former spouse (Question 16),
     • environmental information (Question 17),
     • any consolidated tax group of a corporate debtor (Question 24), and
     • the debtor’s contributions to any employee pension fund (Question 25).

 

In addition, every corporate or partnership debtor and every individual or joint debtor who has been in business within six years before filing the petition must answer Questions 19-25.

 

This is an enlargement of the two-year period previously specified. The instructions ontained in the form also have been amended to make it clear that individual or joint debtors who have not been in business, as defined in the form, within the six years prior to filing should not answer Questions 19 through 25 but proceed directly to the signature page of the form.

 

The amended form is also available from the Internet at http://www.uscourts.gov/bankform/ . Alternatively, from “www.uscourts.gov,” click on “For Public Review,” scroll down and click on “Federal Rulemaking,” then click on “Official Bankruptcy Forms.”

 

The amended form is effective now but bankruptcy forms publishers and software vendors will require a reasonable time to produce and distribute the new version. Until the new form becomes widely available, bankruptcy case trustees and creditors who need the additional information required by the form must request the debtor to furnish it separately, either at the meeting of creditors or by other means.

Reassignment of Kane County Calendar of Judge Robert E. Ginsberg
View Order

Reassignment of Judge Lefkow’s Chapter 13 Cases
View Order

Attention attorneys in Chapter 13 cases: Effectively immediately, please begin using the new Chapter 13 Fee Application and Order, copies of which can be found at Form Orders Nos. 23 and 23a on the court's website.

One of the goals of Chief Judge Sonderby is to take a fresh look at our processes and procedures to determine if they can be improved, streamlined or simplified by making greater use of our computers and the court's Web site.

One example is that some important case information does not appear on the Web site in chapter 13 cases, such as claimants, creditors and images of proof of claim forms.

To increase the information available to our customers and reduce the flow of paper between the clerk's office and the standing trustees, the clerk's office will begin imaging proof of claim forms in chapter 13 cases, preparing and sending notices to creditors and other parties, and maintaining the claim's register on all chapter 13 cases filed on and after January 3, 2000. The standing trustees will continue to perform these functions on chapter 13 cases filed before this date.

If a chapter 13 plan is submitted with the petition, the section 341 meeting date and confirmation hearing date will be assigned when the case is filed. Notices will be sent to all parties within a week of filing. A copy of the plan and a proof of claim form will be included with the notice. All claims will be recorded and imaged and available for viewing on our Web site (www.ilnb.uscourts.gov),

To facilitate the docketing and imaging of the chapter 13 plan, please submit the plan as a separate document. Do not attach it to the petition. An original and 2 copies of the plan are required.

If a petition is filed without a plan, but within the 15 days required by FRBP 3015(b), the section 341 meeting date and confirmation hearing date will be assigned and a notice sent to all parties within a week of the filing of the plan.

Failure to file a plan timely in accordance with FRBP 3015(b) may result in the dismissal of the case.

Kenneth S. Gardner
Bankruptcy Clerk
Northern District of Illinois

The Judges of the Bankruptcy Court have compiled a set of orders for use in Northern District Of Illinois Bankruptcy cases.
They are available in the FORMS section of the website under "LOCAL BANKRUPTCY FORM ORDERS".

Effective October 1, 1999, Glenn B. Stearns is appointed Chapter 13 Standing Trustee for the United States Bankruptcy Court, Northern District of Illinois, Eastern Division.
All Pending Chapter 13 cases from the Counties of DuPage, Grundy, Kane, Kendall, Lake, LaSalle, and Will assigned to Standing Trustee Elaine Jensen and Standing Trustee Tom Vaughn, at the close of business September 30, 1999, will be reassigned to Glenn B. Stearns.
All newly filed Chapter 13 cases in DuPage, Grundy, Kane, Kendall, Lake, LaSalle and Will Counties will be assigned to Glenn B. Stearns.
Mr. Stearns will maintain an office located at 4343 Commerce Court, Suite 120, Lisle, Illinois, 60532.  His telephone number is (630) 577-1313.

The Federal Courthouse building at 219 South Dearborn, Chicago has been renamed to the Everett McKinley Dirksen United States Courthouse

View Announcement

Due to the appointment of Elaine Jensen as Chapter 13 Standing Trustee for the United States Bankruptcy Court, Northern District of Illinois, effective August 1, 1999, all pending Chapter 13 cases assigned to Jack McCullough, as of the close of business July 31, 1999, will be reassigned to Elaine Jensen.
All newly filed Chapter 13 cases for Judges Ginsberg, Katz, Squires and Doyle in Cook County will be assigned to Elaine Jensen.

Effective July 1, 1999 Thomas Vaughn is appointed Chapter 13 Standing Trustee for the United States Bankruptcy Court, Northern District of Illinois, Eastern Division, to replace Craig Phelps who is retiring.
All pending Chapter 13 cases assigned to Craig Phelps as of the close of business June 30, 1999 will be reassigned to Thomas Vaughn.
All newly filed Chapter 13 cases for Judges Schmetterer, Barliant, Wedoff and Lefkow in Cook, DuPage, Grundy, Kane, Kendall, Lake, LaSalle and Will counties will be assigned to Thomas Vaughn.
All newly-filed Chapter 13 cases for Judges Ginsberg and Squires in Kane and DuPage counties will be assigned to Thomas Vaughn.

Effective July 1, 1999, All Written Opinions of the Judges of the Bankruptcy Court will be posted on the court's Web Site.
The opinions are located under the specific Judge's page on the Web Site and may be viewed and downloaded in PDF or WordPerfect format.

The updated Minute Order Form is now available in the Forms section of the website.

View Announcement