The bankruptcy amendments are intended to conform the Bankruptcy Rules to recently amended rules of appellate civil procedure.

1. Supreme Court Approves
Amendments To Bankruptcy
Rules!

2. 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. Firstly, Many of the amendments
are technical. They are to conform the Bankruptcy
Rules to recently amended rules of appellate and civil
procedure. Bankruptcy Rules affected by the
amendments. It includes Rules 3002.1, 5005, 7004,
7062, 8002, 8006, 8007, 8010, 8011, 8013, 8015, 8016,
8017, 8021, 8022, 9025, and new Rule 8018.1 as well
as Part VIII Appendix.

3. Rule 3002.1
Bankruptcy Rule 3002.1 requires creditors with claims
secured by a debtor’s personal residence. It is 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. That includes
home equity loans, a procedure for objecting to
payment changes as well as expand the category of
parties who can seek a determination of fees,
expenses, and charges that owe at the end of a
bankruptcy case.

4. 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.
The paper filing would allow for a good cause. And
individual courts by local rule could permit paper filings
for other reasons.

5. Likewise, the proposal would permit pro se debtors to
file electronically only if authorized by individual court
orders or local rules. Individual courts that mandate
electronic filing for all pro se debtors must provide
reasonable exceptions.

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

7. RULES 7062, 8007, 8010, 8021, AND 9025.
These rules address the entry, enforcement, and appeal
of judgments entered in adversary proceedings. Rule
7062 also 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.

8. 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.

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

10. RULE 8002
Official Form 417A and New Director’s Form 4170. Rule
8002 addresses the timeliness of appeals. Likewise,
Rule 8002(a) provides that a notice of appeal must be
filed within 14 days after the entry of a judgment.
Additionally, 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.

11. Similarly, 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 the authorized motions. It
also concerns the timeliness of tolling motions. That
was made to Federal Rule of Appellate Procedure
4(a)(4) in 2016.

12. Likewise, Rule 8002(c) establishes filing and service
requirements for inmate appeals. Under the proposed
amendments to Rule 8002(c), an inmate’s notice of
appeal is timely. Only if we deposit it in the institution’s
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 Director’s Form, Form 4170
(Declaration of Inmate Filing), sets out a suggested
form for the declaration. Also, an amendment to
Official Form 417A would direct inmate filers to the
Director’s Form.

13. 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 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.

14. 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, as well as 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. Likewise, a new appendix
to Part VIII of the Bankruptcy Rules lists all of the length
limits in one chart. A conforming amendment was on
the certificate of compliance in Official Form 417C.

15. 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 the Federal Rule of Appellate
Procedure 29.

16. RULE 8018.1
New Rule 8018.1 is the latest installment of rule
amendments intended to address the impact of the
Supreme Court’s 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 court’s 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.

17. OFFICIAL FORMS 411A AND 411B.
The use of Official Forms is mandatory. The Bankruptcy
Rules do not require the use of Director’s Forms, their
use is optional unless local court rule or general order
mandates their use. At its September meeting, the
Judicial Conference approved reissuing the bankruptcy
general and special power of attorney forms. Currently
Director’s Forms 4011A and 4011B, as Official Forms
411A and 411B to conform to Bankruptcy Rule 9010(c).
That requires the execution of a power of attorney on
an Official Form. Bankruptcy cases commenced after
December 1, 2018, must use the new forms. Similarly,
cases pending on December 1 must use the new forms
“insofar as just and practicable.”

18. EFFECTIVE DATE.
The Judicial Conference approved the rule
amendments last fall at its annual meeting. Likewise,
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.