(a) Fees Owed from Previous Case. If a debtor files an application to pay case filing fees in installments and the debtor owes an unpaid fee from a previous case filed within five calendar years, the Court will deny the application and allow the debtor fourteen days from the petition date to pay the entire filing fee. If the entire filing fee is not paid, the Court may dismiss the case without a hearing. An order denying the debtor's application will be entered on the CM/ECF docket report of the case.
(b) Minimum Installment Payments. In all cases where subdivision (a) does not apply, a debtor's application to pay the case filing fee in installments may be approved, without a hearing, only if it complies with the following requirements:
(1) a minimum payment of twenty-five percent of the total case filing fee shall be paid within 30 days of the petition date;
(2) installments shall be paid not less often than monthly;
(3) the number of installments shall not exceed four; and
(4) no installment shall be less than twenty-five percent of the total case filing fee unless a lesser amount will pay the filing fee in full.
(c) Case Filing Fees Paid Through a Chapter 13 Trustee.
(1) For chapter 13 cases filed on or after December 1, 2015, a debtor may pay the chapter 13 case filing fee through the trustee assigned to the case if the debtor's chapter 13 plan so provides if each of the following requirements is met:
(A) the debtor files an application to pay the case filing fee in installments that complies with subparagraph (b) of this Local Rule and is granted by the Court;
(B) the debtor signs and files with the application to pay the filing fee in installments Local Form 1006-1(c), acknowledging and agreeing to the trustee's collection of the percentage fee on any filing fee installments made through the chapter 13 trustee's office;
(C) the debtor's chapter 13 plan states in Section 4.2 that the trustee will disburse the chapter 13 case filing fee through the plan; and
(D) the debtor's chapter 13 plan provides for monthly plan payments in amounts sufficient to enable the chapter 13 trustee to timely pay all installments of the case filing fee to the Clerk of Court, as well as the trustee's percentage fee for said payments.
(2) If the debtor is represented by an attorney, Local Form 1006-1(c) must be signed both by the debtor and by the debtor's attorney. If the chapter 13 case is a joint case, both debtors must sign Local Form 1006-1(c).
(3) If a debtor signs Local Form 1006-1(c) and files the form in the debtor's chapter 13 case, the standing chapter 13 trustee assigned to the case is authorized to remit filing fee installment payments to the Clerk of Court, both before and after confirmation, from the payments made by the debtor to the trustee. In such cases, the trustee shall remit payment of each filing fee installment to the Clerk of Court electronically in the month sufficient funds become available to pay the installment, or in the following month. The trustee is authorized to pay the trustee's percentage fee at the time of each remittance of a chapter 13 case filing fee installment to the Clerk of Court, whether the remittance is made pre-confirmation or post-confirmation.
(4) Only chapter 13 case filing fees may be paid through the debtor's chapter 13 plan. No other fees payable to the Clerk of Court are permitted to be paid through a debtor's chapter 13 plan.
(Eff. 12/1/2017)