In this letter to the bankruptcy community, the Clerk provides notification to changes involving: (1) the assignment of cases in the Court's Mason City and Fort Dodge Divisions; (2) the redaction requirements enforced by the Court's CM/ECF system; (3) Reaffirmation Agreement filing procedures in the Northern District after December 1, 2009; and (4) Time Computations pursuant to the December 1, 2009 Rule Amendments.  

Enhanced language and functionality enforcing the redaction requirements of Federal Rules of Bankruptcy Procedures, Rule 9037(a) will be incorporated into the next release of CM/ECF. In this letter to the bankruptcy community, the Clerk provides advanced notification of these changes to assist electronic filers in making the necessary arrangements with their respective third-party software providers.

The Administrative Office of the United States Courts has been working with the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) regarding archival preservation and continued use of scanned images in the Judiciary's Case Management/Electronic Case File (CM/ECF) system.

In this letter to the bankruptcy community, the Clerk provides advanced notification of the impacts of Standing Order 09-07 on practice and procedures within the Northern District of Iowa.  Although the changes outlined in this Standing Order do not go into effect until December 1, 2009, the Clerk has provided  as much notice as possible (six months), to ensure that all who practice within the Northern District can take the appropriate preparatory actions.

The December 2008 amendments to FRBP 4008(a) establish the requirement for all reaffirmation agreements to be filed no later than 60 days after the first date set for the meeting of creditors (§ 341 Meeting).  The June 1, 2009, letter from the Clerk outlines the procedures to be followed by the Clerk's Office, should a reaffirmation agreement be filed after the 60 day deadline.