Fee Changes Effective December 1, 2014

Friday, October 31, 2014

At its September 2014 session, the Judicial Conference approved amendments to the Bankruptcy Court Miscellaneous Fee Schedule. The Conference approved a fee increase of $50 (from $157 to $207) when a direct bankruptcy appeal is accepted by a court of appeals.

The Conference also approved two amendments to the Bankruptcy Court Miscellaneous Fee Schedule that were developed in connection with a new national policy establishing filing and notice procedures for requests to redact personal identifiers from large volumes of court filings in multiple cases, including closed cases.

The Conference established a $25 fee (Item 21) to file a motion to make redactions to previously filed records in a bankruptcy case. The fee is intended to be charged for each affected case, but courts may waive the fee under appropriate circumstances.

The Conference also endorsed a new exception to the reopening fee for a closed bankruptcy case (Item 11) to clarify that the reopening fee does not apply if redaction is the only purpose for reopening the case. Attached is the red-lined version of these changes effective December 1, 2014.