DEBTOR’S CERTIFICATION CONCERNING DOMESTIC SUPPORT  OBLIGATIONS IN A CASE UNDER CHAPTER 12 OR CHAPTER 13 –Amended December 1, 2017

(a)       Subsections (b), (c) and (d) of this rule only apply to a chapter 12 or chapter 13 debtor who is or was required to pay a domestic support obligation by a judicial or administrative order or by statute during the pendency of his or her bankruptcy case.           

(b)        a chapter 12 or chapter 13 case in which the debtor has or had a duty to pay a domestic support obligation during the pendency of the case, within thirty (30) days before the date on which the last payment is due under the plan, or when the debtor files a motion to request a hardship discharge under section 1228(b) or section 1328(b) of the Bankruptcy Code, whichever is earlier, the Standing Trustee must furnish the debtor with a Debtor’s Certification Regarding Domestic Support Obligation in Support of Discharge in a Chapter 12 or Chapter 13, which shall be available on the Court’s website (http://www.nysb.uscourts.gov/forms).

(c)       The debtor must complete, sign, and return to the Standing Trustee the Debtor’s Certification Regarding Domestic Support Obligation in Support of Discharge in a Chapter 12 or Chapter 13 when submitting the check for the last payment under the chapter 12 or chapter 13 plan or, if the debtor has filed a motion to request a hardship discharge, no later than the date of the hearing on the debtor’s motion.  In a joint case, each debtor must complete and sign a separate Debtor’s Certification Regarding Domestic Support Obligation in Support of Discharge in a Chapter 12 or Chapter 13.

(d)       The Standing Trustee shall attach the completed Debtor’s Certification Regarding Domestic Support Obligation in Support of Discharge in a Chapter 12 or Chapter 13 when electronically filing the Notice of Request for a Discharge or, in a case in which the debtor seeks a hardship discharge, shall otherwise make it available on the docket of that case.

Comment

            This rule was added in 2013 to include in the Local Bankruptcy Rules the provisions established by General Order M-338, relating to the debtor’s certifications regarding domestic support obligations.  Though General Order M-338 provided that the Standing Trustee “should” furnish the debtor with the certification form, and “should” attach the completed form to the Notice of Request for a Discharge, this rule makes these provisions mandatory.  General Order M-338 was abrogated and replaced by this local rule in 2013.

This rule was amended in 2015 to conform to the renumbering of the Director’s Procedural Form B2830, Initial Statement About An Eviction Judgment Against you, effective December 1, 2015. 

This rule was amended in 2017 to clarify that it applies only to cases where the debtor is or was required to pay domestic support obligations by judicial or administrative order or by statute.  It also substituted a local form in lieu of the national form of certification in support of discharge.