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Local Rules

(a)  Purpose.  These Local Bankruptcy Rules (“Rules”) and forms supplement the Federal Rules of Bankruptcy Procedure (“Fed. R. Bankr. P.”) and the Official Bankruptcy Forms (“Official Forms”).

(b)  General Applicability.  Unless otherwise ordered by the Court, these Rules apply in all cases and proceedings in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of Colorado.

(c)  Applicability of Rules to Unrepresented Parties.  Individuals who are not represented by an attorney are bound by these Rules and any reference to “attorney” applies to individuals who are not represented by an attorney unless otherwise noted.

(d)  Citation to the Rules.  These Rules are to be cited as the Local Bankruptcy Rules (“L.B.R.”) and these forms as the Local Bankruptcy Forms (“L.B.F.”).

(e)  Reference to Debtor.  Any reference to “debtor” includes both “debtors” in a joint case.

(f)   Effective Date.  The effective date of these Rules is December 1, 2017.  These Rules supersede all previous local rules and orders adopting or amending local rules.  Further, these Rules will govern in all bankruptcy cases or adversary proceedings commenced on or after December 1, 2017, and all pending cases and proceedings insofar as just and practicable.

(g)  Compliance.  Failure to comply with these Rules may result in an adverse ruling or the imposition of appropriate sanctions. 

(a)  Request to Pay Filing Fee in Installments.  An individual debtor seeking to pay the petition filing fee in installments must file an application using Official Form 103A, Application for Individuals to Pay the Filing Fee in Installments.

(b)  Request to Waive Filing Fee.  An individual debtor seeking a waiver of the filing fee in a chapter 7 case must file an application using Official Form 103B, Application to Have the Chapter 7 Filing Fee Waived and include the following:

(1)  copies of all pay advices, other evidence of income in the 60 days prior to filing for bankruptcy, or L.B.F. 1007-6.1; and

(2)  completed Schedules I and J, even if all other statements and schedules are not filed at the time the request is made. 

(3)  Any order granting a request for fee waiver is conditional and subject to further investigation by the United States Trustee, trustee, or other parties.

(c)  Request to Waive Appeal Fee.  The requirements of L.B.R. 1006-1(b) apply to any individual debtor seeking a waiver of the filing fee in an appeal.  

 
The list containing the name and address of each entity and individual included or to be included on Schedules D, E/F, G, and H required by Fed. R. Bankr. P. 1007(a) must be provided in the format as directed by Clerk’s Office Procedures maintained on the Court’s website.
 

(a)  Correction.  A debtor must correct an incorrect social security number by submitting an amended statement of social security number, using Official Form 121, Your Statement About Your Social Security Numbers and labeling it “Amended.”  The amended statement must include the originally submitted and correct social security numbers and must be filed within seven days of the debtor discovering or being informed of the error.

(b)  Service.  A debtor must file a certificate of service with the amended statement of social security number showing service of the amended statement of social security number on the United States Trustee, trustee, all creditors, and credit reporting agencies Experian, TransUnion LLC, and Equifax. 

The debtor must file the required payment advices or other evidence of payment pursuant to 11 U.S.C. § 521(a)(1)(B)(iv) or a statement concerning payment advices in substantial conformity with L.B.F. 1007-6.1.

A chapter 11 debtor must file with the petition, a statement regarding whether a receiver is in possession of all or any part of the debtor’s property, in substantial conformity with L.B.F. 1007-7.1.

(a)  Amendment.  Unless the Court orders otherwise, if a debtor amends a petition, list, schedule or statement, the amendment must be designated as such.  The amended petition, list, schedule, or statement will supersede the prior filing and may not merely state the new or changed items.  

(b)  Notice of Amendment.  The debtor must file a notice of amendment that substantially conforms with L.B.F. 1009-1.1, which specifies the amended or new information.  

(c)  Service.  In addition to the requirements of 11 U.S.C. § 342(c)(1) and Fed. R. Bankr. P. 1009(a), upon the filing of an amendment adding creditors or parties in interest, the debtor must serve the following to the new creditors or parties:

(1)  the amended schedule;

(2)  the Notice of Amendment to Schedule, L.B.F. 1009-1.1;

(3)  the Notice of Meeting of Creditors; and

(4)  any notice of possible dividend or notice of a bar date for filing proofs of claim, along with a proof of claim form.

(d)  Certificate of Service.  The debtor must file a certificate of service showing compliance with this Rule with the amendment.  The certificate of service must be attached to the Notice of Amendment.

(e)  Creditor Requests to Modify Creditor Address Mailing Matrix.  If a creditor wishes to modify the address listed in the schedules or on the Creditor Address Mailing Matrix, the creditor may file or modify a proof of claim or file a notice of change of address and serve a copy to the debtor and debtor’s attorney.

(a)  Motion and Order.  Parties seeking joint administration under Fed. R. Bankr. P. 1015(b) must file a motion and submit a proposed order in substantial conformity with L.B.F. 1015-1.1.

(b)  Notice.  When the Court enters an order granting joint administration, the Clerk, or such other person as the Court may direct, must provide notice to all creditors and parties in interest that the administrative procedures listed herein apply.  The Court may, in its discretion, order that the debtor maintain a comprehensive service list of creditors for all jointly administered estates.

(1)  Unless otherwise ordered, jointly administered cases will be reassigned to the judge to whom the lowest-numbered (first) case was assigned.  The lowest-numbered case will be known as the “lead case.”

(2)  Unless otherwise ordered, all motions, pleadings, and other documents filed in the jointly administered case must bear a combined caption which includes the full name and number of each specific case as in Official Form 416A, Caption and must be filed, docketed and processed in the lead case, except for the following:

(A) a motion which applies to fewer than all jointly administered debtors must clearly indicate in the caption and title to which debtor the motion applies, but must still be filed in the lead case;

(B) all proofs of claim must be filed in the specific case to which they apply;

(C) monthly financial reports must be filed in the specific case to which they apply; and

(D) amendments to schedules, statements, lists and other required documents in Fed. R. Bankr. P. 1002 and 1007 must be filed in the specific case to which the amendments apply.

(c)  Effect on Substantive Issues.  Any order directing joint administration does not affect the substantive issues of the jointly administered estates, either individually or collectively, nor does it affect the requirements of Fed. R. Bankr. P. 2009.

(d)  Limitations.  The Court will not approve joint administration if the Court anticipates that joint administration will have an adverse impact on the substantive rights of the claimants, other interested parties, or the respective debtor estates.  This includes failure of a debtor’s attorney to allocate fees and costs properly to the applicable debtor.  Fee applications filed in jointly administered cases must designate the entity to which fees and costs are attributable.

(e)  Separate Motion Required for Substantive Consolidation.  Parties seeking substantive consolidation must do so by separate motion.

(a)  Assignment of Cases.  Cases are assigned to judges by random selection to the extent possible.  The Chief Judge may direct the Clerk to reassign cases as necessary.

(b)  Related Cases.  A case related to another pending case may be assigned or reassigned to the judge with the earliest filed case.  A case is “related” to another case if one of the debtors in one case is an “affiliate” or an “insider” of a debtor in another case, as those terms are defined in 11 U.S.C. § 101.

(c)   Repeat Cases.  If the debtor has filed a bankruptcy case in the previous eight years, the Clerk may reassign the case to the judge to whom the previous bankruptcy case was assigned.

(a)  Who Must Give Notice.  Unless otherwise ordered by the Court, the movant or applicant must provide notice as required by Fed. R. Bankr. P. 2002 and L.B.R. 9013-1.

(b)  Creditor Address Mailing Matrix.  For notice to all creditors and parties in interest, the movant must use, at a minimum, all of the addresses contained on the most current version of the Creditor Address Mailing Matrix.

(c)   Designation of Preferred Creditor Addresses.  The Court designates any entity approved by the Administrative Office of the United States Courts as a notice provider to support the preferred address requirements under 11 U.S.C. § 342(f) and Fed. R. Bankr. P. 2002(g)(4).

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