As a consequence of the location of a resident judge in the upstate and to ensure convenient access to hearing locations, the judges of the U. S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of South Carolina are considering a redesignation of court divisions pursuant to 28 USC 154 to assist in the allocation of case work among the judges.
Under consideration is the redesignation of Abbeville, McCormick, and Greenwood counties and, possibly York county, to the Greenville/Spartanburg division with the primary court location being Spartanburg, SC and the redesignation of Allendale, Hampton, Williamsburg, and Horry counties to the Charleston division with the primary court location being Charleston, SC. Trustee assignment and the location of 341 meetings are the province of the United States Trustee and are not subject to these designations.

Based upon approximate figures from the date of the latest published projections by the state census bureau (2005), under the present designation of divisions, the relevant statistics are as follows:

Spartanburg/Greenville: 8 counties, population = 1,184,950, case filings 4189/ 27% of total,
Charlestion: 8 counties, population = 877,330, case filings 2875/18.5% of total,
Columbia: 30 counties, population = 2,167,720, case filings 8414/54.3% of total.

Under the proposed designation of divisions,(using the same figures) the statistics would change as follows:

Spartanburg/Greenville:
-without York: 11 counties, population = 1,289,890, case filings 4495/ 29% of total,
-with York: 12 counties, population = 1,479,938, case filings 5101/32.9% of total,
Charleston: 12 counties, population = 1,182,881, case filings 3895/25% of total,
Columbia:
-without York: 23 counties, population = 1,592,756, case filings 6482/41.8% of total,
-with York: 24 counties, population = 1,782,804, case filings 7088/45% of total.

The judges request that any comments from members of the bankruptcy bar be forwarded to waites_chambers@scb.uscourts.gov on or before March 27, 2007.