COMPENSATION OR REIMBURSEMENT OF EXPENSES IN CHAPTER 7 CASES – Amended December 1, 2009

            Unless the Court orders otherwise, a person seeking an award of compensation or reimbursement of expenses in a chapter 7 case must file an application with the Clerk and serve a copy on the trustee and the United States Trustee not later than twenty-one (21) days prior to the date of the hearing on the trustee's final account. Failure to file and serve an application within the time prescribed by this rule may result in its disallowance. Unless the Court orders otherwise, the United States Trustee shall file any objection to such application at least two (2) days prior to the date of the hearing.

Comment

            This rule is derived from former Standing Order M-90.

            This rule supplements Local Bankruptcy Rule 2016-1 and facilitates the expeditious closing of chapter 7 cases. Pursuant to Local Bankruptcy Rule 5009-1, the trustee is obligated to set forth the language contained in this rule, or words of similar import, on the notice of filing of a final account.

            This rule was amended in 2009 to change the relevant time period from twenty (20) to twenty-one (21) days. The purpose of the amendment was to conform the time period in this rule to the 2009 time-related amendments to the Federal Rules of Bankruptcy Procedure. Throughout the Bankruptcy Rules, as well as the Local Bankruptcy Rules, most time periods that are shorter than thirty (30) days were changed so that the number of days is in multiples of seven (7), thereby reducing the likelihood that time periods will end on a Saturday or Sunday.

            The two business day deadline in this rule was also amended in 2009 to delete the reference to “business” days so that the time period will be computed by calendar days, consistent with the 2009 amendments to Bankruptcy Rule 9006(a).