The Northern District of
Florida Bankruptcy Bar Association

Welcome to the Northern District of Florida Bankruptcy Bar Association's website.  We hope you find this site informative and helpful, and we invite you to contact us with any questions you may have.

LATEST NDFL BANKRUPTCY NEWS:

Reserve your FREE bound copy of the recently revised FLNB Local Rules!  The Clerk's office has graciously ordered a limited number of bound copies of the new local rules for distribution to Bar members, but the number of free copies is limited and requests must be made by December 11th, so click on this link to reserve your free copy today!!

Time Computation Changes Effective December 1, 2009:  Earlier this year, the Supreme Court approved changes to Bankruptcy Rule 9006, as well as changes to similar appellate, civil, and criminal rules, which address the method in which time is calculated in the federal courts.  Additionally, the President signed the Statutory Time Period Technical Amendments Act of 2009 which adjusts the time periods in 28 statutes, including nine sections of the Bankruptcy Code. Both the statutory and rules changes take effect December 1.  Under the current rules, weekends and holidays are excluded when calculating time periods less than eight days.  The amended rules count weekends and holidays for all time periods. Deadlines of less than 30 days have been changed to multiples of seven (7) so that the expiration of the deadline ordinarily would occur on a weekday. Under the revised rules:

     -  5 day deadlines become 7 days;

     -  10 and 15 day deadlines become 14 days;

     -  20 day deadlines become 21 days; and

     -  25 day deadlines become 28 days

Be advised that the changes to Rule 9006 do not apply to a fixed time to act set by the Court, for example, "no later than November 1" or to other deadlines not specified by statute or rule.  The deadlines in Rule 4001(d)(2) and (3) were inadvertently omitted from this set of rules amendments. It is anticipated that the Judicial Conference will approve changes to these deadlines, effective December 1, 2010.  See the U.S. Courts website at www.uscourts.gov/rules for more information and a detailed list of changes.

Amended Standing Orders Increasing Chapter 13 Attorney Fees:  Standing Order #9 regarding Attorney Fees in Chapter 13 cases was amended October 27, effective for cases filed after November 1, 2009.  This allows attorney's fees, excluding costs, in the amount of $3500.00 to be considered "normal and customary" in "routine" cases under Chapter 13.  Standing Order #15 regarding the Form Plan and related provisions was signed October 26 amending sections 6 and 7 to increase the attorney fees for the preparation and filing of the Annual Statement (now $250.00) and plan modifications (now $500.00).  Both orders can be viewed on our website at www.flnb.uscourts.gov under Court Info.

Legal Assistant Certification Program. The Association of Bankruptcy Judicial Assistants (ABJA) offers a Certified Bankruptcy Assistant Program, which is designed to provide a general background in bankruptcy law and offer writing skills to assist professionals in work skill enhancement.  If you are interested in a member of your staff becoming certified under this program, contact Martie Kantor at martie_kantor@flnb.uscourts.gov or 850-521-5031 or visit www.abja.org for more information.