Opinion
February 28, 2006
WHEREAS, by General Order dated and filed on April 1, 1997, this Court adopted the Rules of the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of New Hampshire, said rules hereinafter referred to as the Local Bankruptcy Rules; and
WHEREAS, Rule 9029-2 of the Local Bankruptcy Rules authorizes this Court to adopt administrative orders for the conduct and disposition of proceedings before it and, from time to time, to alter and amend the same, provided that such administrative orders are not inconsistent with the provisions of the United States Bankruptcy Code, Federal Rules of Bankruptcy Procedure or Local Bankruptcy Rules; and
WHEREAS, pursuant to the authority granted this Court by Local Bankruptcy Rule 9029-2, and for the purpose of organizing, clarifying and supplementing the administrative orders issued by the Court prior to the date of this order; it is hereby
ORDERED that the annexed Administrative Order 1007-7, Administrative Order 3015-3, Administrative Order 3070-7 and Administrative Order 4002-7 are hereby prescribed and promulgated pursuant to Local Bankruptcy Rule 9029-2 and shall take effect on October 17, 2005, and govern all bankruptcy cases and proceedings thereafter commenced; and it is further
ORDERED that the Clerk shall post a copy of this order in the Clerk's Office and shall forthwith cause a notice regarding the adoption of these Administrative Orders to be published in the New Hampshire Bar News, which indicates that copies of these Administrative Orders are available upon request and on the Court's web site.
FILING OF PAYMENT ADVICES PURSUANT TO 11 U.S.C. § 521(a)(1)(B)(iv) (Adopted pursuant to General Order dated October 14, 2005)
Effective as to cases filed on or after October 17, 2005, copies of all payment advices or other evidence of payment received within sixty (60) days before the date of the filing of the petition by the debtor from any employer of the debtor (1) shall not be filed with the Court unless otherwise ordered; and (2) shall be provided to the trustee at least seven (7) days before the time of the meeting of creditors conducted pursuant to 11 U.S.C. § 341.
CHAPTER 13 — CONFIRMATION — OBJECTION DEADLINE (Adopted pursuant to General Order dated October 14, 2005)
Effective as to all Chapter 13 cases filed on or after October 17, 2005, any objection to confirmation of a Chapter 13 plan shall be filed no later than ten (10) days before the first date set for the confirmation hearing, or in the event an amended plan is filed, five (5) days before the confirmation hearing. The objection shall be heard at the confirmation hearing.
CHAPTER 13 PRE-CONFIRMATION ADEQUATE PROTECTION PAYMENTS (Adopted pursuant to General Order dated October 14, 2005)
Effective as to all Chapter 13 cases filed on or after October 17, 2005:(a) Payments of personal property leases governed by 11 U.S.C. § 1326(a)(1)(B) shall only be made directly by the debtor to the lessor if the debtor's plan so provides or if no plan provision addresses payment of the debtor's lease obligation. If the plan provides for payment of the lease obligation by the trustee, the debtor shall make the payment as part of the total payment to the trustee, and the trustee shall pay the lessor, both before and after confirmation.
(b) Pre-confirmation adequate protection payments governed by 11 U.S.C. § 1326(a)(1)(C) shall only be made directly by the debtor to the secured creditor if the debtor's plan so provides or if no plan provision addresses payment of the secured claim. If the plan provides for payment of the secured claim by the trustee, the debtor shall make the payment as part of the total payment to the trustee, and the trustee shall pay the amount provided by the plan to the secured creditor, both before and after confirmation.
PROCEDURES FOR FILING AND OBTAINING TAX INFORMATION UNDER 11 U.S.C. § 521 (Adopted pursuant to General Order dated October 14, 2005)
Effective as to cases filed on or after October 17, 2005, and in accordance with section 315(c) of the Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act of 2005 (the "Act") and interim guidance provided by the Director of the Administrative Office of the United States Courts, the procedures described below should be followed for safeguarding the confidentiality of tax information required to be provided under 11 U.S.C. § 521, whether filed with the Court or otherwise provided by the debtor pursuant to 11 U.S.C. § 521. The term "tax information" includes tax returns, transcripts of returns, amendments to returns and any other document containing tax information provided by the debtor.
(a) Filing of Tax Information. In order for tax information to be electronically entered into the Court's CM/ECF system, the "tax information" event must be selected from the CM/ECF event list. The specific filing events are listed on the CM/ECF page of the Court's web site.
(b) No Electronic Public Access to Tax Information. Use of the "tax information" event in CM/ECF limits access to the filed tax information to those users assigned "court" logins ( i.e., judicial officers and court employees). All other users (including PACER users) will be limited to viewing only the docket event indicating that tax information has been filed. These other users will not be able to open and view the tax information. Access to the tax information shall be available only upon request of the court in accordance with the provisions of paragraph (d) below.
(c) Redaction of Personal Information. All tax information provided in accordance with 11 U.S.C. § 521 is subject to the Judicial Conference of the United States Policy on Privacy and Public Access to Electronic Case Files ("JCUS policy") available at http://www.privacy.uscourts.gov/Policy.htm. In accordance with the JCUS policy, the debtor should take the following steps to redact personal identifiers in any tax information filed with the court or provided to the trustee or creditor(s), in either electronic or paper form:
(1) Social Security numbers. If an individual's social security number is included, only the last four digits of that number should appear;
(2) Names of minor children. If a minor child(ren) is/are identified by name, only the child(ren)'s initials should appear;
(3) Dates of birth. If an individual's date of birth is included, only the year should appear; and
(4) Financial account numbers. If financial account numbers are provided, only the last four digits of these numbers should appear.
Court employees are not responsible for redacting any of the personal identifying information. The responsibility for redacting personal identifiers rests solely with the debtor.
(d) Procedure for Requesting and Obtaining Access to Tax Information. To gain access to a debtor's tax information under 11 U.S.C. § 521(f), the United States trustee, trustee, or party in interest, including a creditor, must follow the procedures set forth below.
(1) The United States trustee, trustee, or party in interest, including a creditor, must file with the court and serve on the debtor and debtor's counsel, if any, a written request that the debtor file copies of tax returns with the court pursuant to 11 U.S.C. § 521(f).
(2) In order to obtain access to debtor's tax information that is filed with the bankruptcy court, the movant must file a motion with the court, which should include:
(i) a description of the movant's status in the case, to allow the court to ascertain whether the movant may properly be given access to the requested tax information;
(ii) a description of the specific tax information sought;
(iii) a statement indicating that the information cannot be obtained by the movant from any other sources; and
(iv) a statement showing a demonstrated need for the tax information.(e) Access to Tax Information as Ordered by the Court. Orders granting a motion for access to tax information will include language advising the movant that the tax information obtained is confidential and should condition dissemination of the tax information as appropriate under the circumstances of the particular case. At the discretion of the Court, the order may state that sanctions may be imposed for improper use, disclosure, or dissemination of the tax information. Upon the granting of a motion for access to tax information, the movant shall make arrangements to view the tax information at the clerk's office, unless otherwise ordered by the Court. The transmission of the tax information to the movant, by whatever means the Court deems appropriate in a particular case, shall be recorded as a docket event in CM/ECF so that the docket will reflect that the Court has taken the action necessary to effect the provisions of its order granting access.