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Chambers' Bulletins
03/2017

Update to Procedures for Chapter 13 Attorney’s Fees (Judge Waites and Judge Duncan)
Thu, 3/16/2017 - 10:44 am

The following changes apply to cases assigned to Judge Waites and Judge Duncan and are effective starting March 30, 2017, unless otherwise advised.

Attorney’s Fees for Chapter 13 Cases

After consultation with members of the Chapter 13 bar, Judge Waites and Judge Duncan adopt the following changes regarding attorney’s fees in Chapter 13 cases:

1.      Increase the allowable expedited fee (no-look fee) to $3,700 for a consumer case and $4,200 for a self-employed/small business case and provide an additional $500 no-look fee for representing a debtor in a contested confirmation hearing.

2.      Increase the amount of supplemental fees debtor’s counsel may claim under SC LBR 2016-1(b)(2)(A) to $2,000, subject to no more than $1,200 in fees being requested in a one year period.

3.      Authorize the Chapter 13 Trustee to disburse to counsel $1,500 of the expedited fee as part of the initial disbursement.

In addition, for Judge Waites’ cases, the guidelines provide the opportunity for a higher no-look fee in extraordinary cases where from the beginning of the case the attorney’s fees are expected to be above the standard no-look fee amount due to the complexity of the case and upon certification of counsel

A copy of the guidelines for Judge Waites are available here. Judge Duncan’s guidelines will be changed if necessary upon a future posting.

Update to Procedures for Chapter 13 Attorney’s Fees (Judge Waites and Judge Duncan)
Thu, 3/16/2017 - 10:44 am

The following changes apply to cases assigned to Judge Waites and Judge Duncan and are effective starting March 30, 2017, unless otherwise advised.

Attorney’s Fees for Chapter 13 Cases

After consultation with members of the Chapter 13 bar, Judge Waites and Judge Duncan adopt the following changes regarding attorney’s fees in Chapter 13 cases:

1.      Increase the allowable expedited fee (no-look fee) to $3,700 for a consumer case and $4,200 for a self-employed/small business case and provide an additional $500 no-look fee for representing a debtor in a contested confirmation hearing.

2.      Increase the amount of supplemental fees debtor’s counsel may claim under SC LBR 2016-1(b)(2)(A) to $2,000, subject to no more than $1,200 in fees being requested in a one year period.

3.      Authorize the Chapter 13 Trustee to disburse to counsel $1,500 of the expedited fee as part of the initial disbursement.

In addition, for Judge Waites’ cases, the guidelines provide the opportunity for a higher no-look fee in extraordinary cases where from the beginning of the case the attorney’s fees are expected to be above the standard no-look fee amount due to the complexity of the case and upon certification of counsel

A copy of the guidelines for Judge Waites are available here. Judge Duncan’s guidelines will be changed if necessary upon a future posting.

Update to Chapter 13 Procedures for Cases Assigned to Judge Waites
Thu, 3/09/2017 - 2:49 pm

The following changes apply to cases assigned to Judge Waites and are effective starting March 30, 2017, unless otherwise advised.

Wage Orders

Wage orders have been shown to be beneficial for debtors and have contributed to successful chapter 13 reorganizations. Therefore, pursuant to 11 U.S.C. § 1325(c), unless otherwise exempted, debtors shall submit to a wage order in all new chapter 13 cases that are assigned to Judge Waites. For cases assigned to Trustee Wyman, debtors may alternatively use a Trustee-approved electronic account deduction program in lieu of submitting to a wage order. 

The complete guidelines requiring the payment of plan payments and wage orders are available here, which include a list of the available exemptions and a copy of the standard consent form indicating the payment method for post-confirmation trustee payments.

Ex parte Relief Due to Default on Settlement Order

The guidelines for submitting affidavits of default pursuant to a § 362 settlement order have been changed. Future affidavits shall include an attachment which demonstrates the direct payments made after the entry of the settlement order and their application, rather than the previous requirement, which required that the attachment demonstrate “all direct post petition payments and their application.” The revised version of the guideline is available here.

Consent Allowing Payment of Funds to Creditor/Debtor Attorney

Non-Conduit Cases

In connection with conversion or dismissal of a non-conduit chapter 13 case, a debtor may consent to the payment of outstanding attorney’s fees and costs that are owed to debtor’s counsel as part of the Chapter 13 Trustee’s final distribution. The following forms may be used to request such payment: Consent Form and Proposed Order.

To file these consents on the docket, a new CM/ECF event has been created entitled “Consent Allowing Payment of Funds to Creditor/Debtor Attorney- Non Conduit.” When using this event, a proposed Order should not be filed until such time as there is a pending motion for dismissal/conversion.

Conduit Cases

Judge Waites has revised the forms for consenting to the payment to the Mortgage Creditor or Debtor’s Counsel upon the conversion or dismissal of a conduit chapter 13 case. These updated forms are attached here: Consent Form and Proposed Order. Counsel should continue to utilize the CM/ECF entitled “Consent Allowing Payment of Funds to Creditor/Debtor Attorney- Conduit.” When using this event, a proposed order should not be filed until such time as there is a pending motion for dismissal/conversion.

Revisions to Judge Duncan's Chambers Guidelines
Wed, 3/01/2017 - 5:08 pm

Judge Duncan has made minor revisions to the Chapter 13 Matters section and Exhibit F of his Chambers Guidelines to bring the guidelines in conformance with the amendments to SC LBR 3015-2.  Minor revisions have also been made to Exhibits A and B to the Chambers Guidelines to reflect a recent name change of the CM/ECF event for "Adversary Proceeding Report."

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