According To An Article On The BESTCASE Website – Supreme Court Approves Amendments To Bankruptcy Rules

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According To An Article On The BESTCASE Website
Supreme Court Approves Amendments To Bankruptcy
Rules
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• The U.S. Supreme Court earlier this year approved
  amendments to the Federal Rules of Bankruptcy
  Procedure that are expected to become effective
  on December 1, 2018. Many of the amendments are
  technical and are intended to conform the
  Bankruptcy Rules to recently amended rules of
  appellate and civil procedure. Bankruptcy Rules
  affected by the amendments include Rules 3002.1,
  5005, 7004, 7062, 8002, 8006, 8007, 8010, 8011,
  8013, 8015, 8016, 8017, 8021, 8022, 9025, and new
  Rule 8018.1 and Part VIII Appendix.

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• Rules 5005 and 8011. Rules 5005(a)(2) and 8011
  authorize individual courts to mandate electronic
  filing or to make it optional. Most courts
  require attorneys to file electronically, subject
  to reasonable exceptions. The proposed amendments
  would make electronic filing mandatory in all
  districts for all parties represented by an
  attorney. Paper filing would be allowed for good
  cause, and individual courts by local rule could
  permit paper filings for other reasons.

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• Rule 3002.1. Bankruptcy Rule 3002.1 requires
  creditors with claims secured by a debtors
  personal residence to provide notice of all
  post-petition payment changes, fees, expenses,
  and charges incurred. The proposed amendments to
  the rule would create flexibility regarding
  notice of payment changes for home equity loans,
  include a procedure for objecting to payment
  changes, and expand the category of parties who
  can seek a determination of fees, expenses, and
  charges that are owed at the end of a bankruptcy
  case.

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• The proposal would permit pro se debtors to file
  electronically only if authorized by individual
  court order or local rule. Individual courts that
  mandates electronic filing for all pro se debtors
  must provide reasonable exceptions.

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• Rule 7004. The technical amendment to Rule 7004
  would update a cross-reference to Federal Rule of
  Civil Procedure 4.

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• Rules 7062, 8007, 8010, 8021, and 9025. These
  rules address the entry, enforcement, and appeal
  of judgments entered in adversary proceedings.
  Rule 7062 incorporates the whole of Federal Rule
  of Civil Procedure 62, which provides an
  automatic stay for the enforcement of judgments
  entered by a district court.

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• The current stay is 14 days, but a proposed
  amendment to Civil Rule 62 would increase the
  stay to 30 days to coincide with the 28-day
  deadline for filing post-judgment motions in
  district court. The proposed amendment to
  Bankruptcy Rule 7062 would still incorporate
  Civil Rule 62 but would retain the 14-day
  duration for the automatic stay of judgments
  since the deadline for post-judgment motions in
  bankruptcy cases is only 14 days.

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• The proposed amendments to Rules 8007, 8010,
  8021, and 9025 would allow a party to stay the
  enforcement of a judgment in an adversary
  proceeding by posting a bond or other security.
  This is not a substantive amendment it is
  intended only to broaden and modernize the
  terms supersedeas bond and surety that are
  used currently in the rules.

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• Rule 8002 Official Form 417A and New Directors
  Form 4170. Rule 8002 addresses the timeliness of
  appeals. Rule 8002(a) provides that a notice of
  appeal must be filed within 14 days after the
  entry of a judgment. The proposed amendment to
  Rule 8002(a) would add a new subparagraph (5)
  that defines the term entry of judgment for
  purposes of calculating the time for filing the
  notice of appeal.

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• Rule 8002(b) lists the types of post-judgment
  motions that toll the deadline for filing
  appeals. The proposed amendment to Rule 8002(b)
  would require the filing of post-judgment motions
  within the times specified by the rules under
  which the motions are authorized. A similar
  amendment concerning the timeliness of tolling
  motions was made to Federal Rule of Appellate
  Procedure 4(a)(4) in 2016.

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• Rule 8002(c) establishes filing and service
  requirements for inmate appeals. Under the
  proposed amendments to Rule 8002(c), an inmates
  notice of appeal is timely if deposited in the
  institutions mail system on or before the last
  day for filing. The notice must include a
  declaration or notarized statement by the inmate
  stating the mailing date of the notice and
  attesting to the prepayment of first-class
  postage. A new Directors Form, Form 4170
  (Declaration of Inmate Filing), sets out a
  suggested form for the declaration. An amendment
  to Official Form 417A would direct inmate filers
  to the Directors Form.

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• Rule 8006. Rule 8006(c) establishes the manner by
  which litigants can file a joint certification
  for direct appellate review. The amendment would
  add a new subsection that would allow the
  bankruptcy court to file a supplemental statement
  about the merits of the parties joint
  certification. The new subsection is intended to
  be the counterpart to existing subsection (e)(2),
  which authorizes the parties to file a similar
  statement when the court certifies direct review
  on its own motion.

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• Rules 8013, 8015, 8016, 8022, and New Part VIII
  Appendix Official Form 417C. Rules 8013
  (motions), 8015 (briefs), 8016 (cross-appeals),
  and 8022 (rehearing) establish length limits for
  motions, briefs, and other pleadings filed in
  bankruptcy appeals. The proposed amendments
  convert current page limits to word-count limits
  for documents prepared using a computer. Similar
  length limits were made to Federal Rules of
  Appellate Procedure in 2016. A new appendix to
  Part VIII of the Bankruptcy Rules lists all of
  the length limits in one chart. A conforming
  amendment is made to the certificate of
  compliance in Official Form 417C.

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• Rule 8017. Rule 8017 addresses the filing of
  amicus curiae briefs. The proposed amendments
  would permit a district court or bankruptcy
  appellate panel to prohibit or strike an amicus
  brief if the filing would result in the
  disqualification of a judge. The amendments
  address the scenario in which an amicus brief is
  filed before a judge or appellate panel is
  assigned to a case and amicus curiae could not
  predict whether the filing of its brief would
  result in a recusal. A similar amendment has been
  proposed for Federal Rule of Appellate Procedure
  29.

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• Rule 8018.1. New Rule 8018.1 is the latest
  installment of rule amendments intended to
  address the impact of the Supreme Courts
  decision in Stern v. Marshall, 564 U.S. 462
  (2011) on bankruptcy court jurisdiction to enter
  final judgments. The proposed rule would
  authorize a district court to treat a bankruptcy
  courts judgment as proposed findings of fact and
  conclusions of law if the lower court did not
  have the constitutional authority to enter a
  final judgment.

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• Official Forms 411A and 411B. The use of
  Official Forms is mandatory. The Bankruptcy Rules
  do not require the use of Directors Forms their
  use is optional unless local court rule or
  general order mandates their use.

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• At its September meeting, the Judicial
  Conference approved reissuing the bankruptcy
  general and special power of attorney forms,
  currently Directors Forms 4011A and 4011B, as
  Official Forms 411A and 411B to conform to
  Bankruptcy Rule 9010(c), which requires execution
  of a power of attorney on an Official Form.
  Bankruptcy cases commenced after December 1,
  2018, must use the new forms. Cases pending on
  December 1 must use the new forms insofar as
  just and practicable.

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• Effective date. The Judicial Conference
  approved the rule amendments last fall at its
  annual meeting. The Supreme Court adopted the
  proposed amendments and transmitted them to
  Congress in April 2018. If Congress takes no
  action, the amendments will become effective on
  December 1, 2018.