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January 9, 2003 DAYTON, OH DAYTON CHAPTER 13 TRUSTEE NEWSLETTER Jeffrey M. Kellner, Trustee Scott G. Stout, Staff Attorney Linda S. Wright, Operations and Personnel Manager FROM THE CHAPTER 13 TRUSTEE & STAFF
The Dayton Chapter 13 Trustee’s Office now has an office website: http://www.dayton13.com
If you have to email to this office, use: questions@dayton13.com
This site has a copy of our latest plan, amended September, 2002, to download on Word. Hearing dates for both Judge Waldron and Judge Hoffman are available at this site, as well as all future Dayton Chapter 13 Trustee Newsletters. We will be adding additional forms soon.
If you would like to see something else added to the Chapter 13 website, email your suggestions.
On August 22, 2002, the Trustee’s Office held a half day Nuts-–Bolts Seminar for new practitioners, attorneys that file chapter 13's infrequently and Attorney’s Staff. The seminar was so well received that it will be held again in the near future. Those of you that feel you fall within this category and wish to attend need to contact Scott (at extension 137) or Ginger (at extension 114) to get your name on the list. The seminar will be limited to fifty (50) people. If more than fifty people want to attend, we will set up a second session. The cost will be $20.00 and there will be no C.L.E. Let us know if you would like a specific topic discussed.
Due to the increased number of filings, we are often setting 341's well over six (6) weeks from the date of filing. Therefore, you must advise us sooner if you will not be available on any given Tuesday. We are having 341's every Tuesday. This fiscal year has seen the greatest number of filings since 1998.
After the Nuts-Bolts Seminars are completed, the Chapter 13 Office will have more advanced training sessions for attorneys and staff. At these sessions we will cover more specific problems and potential plan language. These sessions will be more issue oriented. Dates and times will be announced.
We are planning to have a big seminar as we have in the past, possibly in conjunction with the Dayton Bar Association that will involve C.L.E.
As of the writing of this newsletter, the bankruptcy legislation has stalled in Congress for 2002. We will keep you informed if or when it is introduced in 2003. Consider this: We are trying to devise a way to deal with Internal Revenue claims. The following may be a way to handle refunds where IRS is owed:
IRS Part ONE The debtor's attorney may incorporate into the plan that any tax refunds the debtor may receive will be added as an additional plan payments for the benefit of unsecured creditors, but said refund shall first be used to satisfy the IRS’ secured and priority debt.
IRS Part TWO Where debtor has pre-petition refund and IRS is owed, the IRS will now obtain relief from stay to offset the debt, but will also forward the refund to the Trustee for administration.
IRS Part THREE The IRS and the Trustee’s Office have reached an agreement that any refund received by a debtor shall be turned over to the Trustee if the IRS is scheduled as a creditor in the plan. Where the debtors, pre-petition had low refunds, and then changed their exemptions to get a higher refund, the Trustee’s Office will file to modify the plan to increase the dividend to the general unsecured creditors if the tax refunds are not already part of the plan.
IRS Part FOUR Remember when you have any situation where pleadings are to be served on the IRS, i.e. Objection to proof of claims, you must serve the IRS per Local Rule at three different addresses (See LBR 5003-1(d)(2)):
U.S. Attorney General Main Justice Bldg. Room 5111 10th & Constitution Ave. N.W. Washington, D.C. 20530
U.S. Attorney 602 Federal Building 200 West Second Street Dayton, Ohio45402
IRS District Director Special Procedures Section P.O. Box 1579 Cincinnati, Ohio 45201
Cathy will be sending you a list of all debtors who we currently have tickled for tax returns to be sent to our office. We strongly urge that you contact those debtors to avoid the mass motions to dismiss of the past few years.
When the Intake Department calls your office requesting documents, please fax them or file with Court and then fax them as soon as possible as the Intake Department is working on a time limit and cannot hold these cases.
We are having serious problems getting served pleadings. Make sure we receive time stamped copies of your pleadings in a timely manner (no more than three (3) days after filing).
A lot of you are simply blowing it. We have had new Local Rules for over a year and still a lot of motions get filed without the 20 day notice. The 20 day notice should be before your Certificate of Service (or included therein). If you file it separately make sure you serve us the Notice.
Many of you are not filing a Certificate of Service when you file a late plan. Remember if you file the plan after five (5) days then you must attach a Certificate of Service that you served all creditors. If not you will get an objection every time.
Remember, if you file a modification PRE-CONFIRMATION - we will file the confirmation order. POST-CONFIRMATION orders come from you and must be signed off by either Jeff or Scott. We are finding numerous modifications where attorneys have never filed the order confirming the modification or neglecting to serve us with the order.
In the case of filing a skeleton petition, be sure to attach a creditor matrix so our office can notice the creditors with the 341 notice.
Make sure you copy your clients Drivers’ License (or picture ID) and Social Security Card/Number so you have it in case they forget it at 341. Otherwise we will set another 341 for the debtors to come in and show their ID or Social Security Card. Debtors will have to appear at our office no later than noon the Monday before the rescheduled 341 to show the ID/Social Security Number to avoid the second hearing.
Remember the first payment must be by Cashier’s check, Money Order or Attorney Trust Check: No cash or personal checks.
The “Dayton Chapter 13 Newsletter” will be published quarterly and posted on our web site, dayton13.com. The scheduled dates are for the 15th of January, April, July and October. If you would like to submit an article or comment, please fax or email to our office.
The Dayton Chapter 13 Office has switched to a lock box system for payments. This only affects debtors who are paying direct - Those on automatic checking account deduction (ACH) or payroll deductions are not affected. Our office has contacted the employers to mail the debtor's deductions to the lock box. We have been receiving questions from the attorneys and the debtors, so here are some of the answers:
Q: Do the debtors continue to bring their first payment to the Meeting of Creditors? A: Yes, in the form of a money order, attorney check, Cashier's Check or bank check. Still no personal checks or cash. We will mail these first payment checks to the lock box that same day.
Q: Will there be a long time delay as a result of the payments going to a lock box in Chicago? A: There will be a delay of approximately 48 hours between the deposit and the posting of the check to debtor's account. If timing of the payment is a factor for a hearing, we can check all deposits instantaneously.
Attorneys - make sure your debtors do not send their payments to the lock box if they are on ACH or payroll deduction.
All real estate closings are now to be done by wire transfer. The closing agent needs to contact Cathy for wire transfer information. If funds are not done by wire transfer, there will be a 30 day hold on any debtor refund by our office.
Jeffrey M. Kellner, Chapter 13 Trustee 1722 Solutions Center, Chicago, IL 60677-1007
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