Albert Russo · Standing Chapter 13 Trustee

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In the event of inclement weather, notices of delayed opening or office closing will be posted here at approximately 6:30 AM.

Additionally, our telephone system will be updated with the same information at approximately the same time.

Claim proposed in Plan and No Proof of Claim is Filed
(Revised 2/8/13)

If Debtor’s Plan provides for payment of a claim, including curing of a mortgage  arrearage, payment of secured municipal tax lien, priority claim, or separately classified general unsecured claim, and the Creditor does not file a Proof of Claim, the claim will be set up per the Plan and placed on hold for 30 days. Debtor’s Counsel (or Debtor if Pro Se) will receive a letter advising that action must be taken within 30 days of the date of the letter or the hold will be removed and creditor paid pursuant to the plan.

EXCEPTION: No hold will be removed for payment to: NJ Div Tax, NJ Dept. of Labor, or IRS. If no action is taken, a Notice of Reserve will be filed and the Trustee may take action to fix the claim, modify the plan to pay other creditors, or deposit the funds with the Clerk of the Court.

For all cases FILED after 1/1/13, we will require the verification of the filing of 2012 Income Tax Returns. Consistent with the policy previously established, we will not hold up confirmation but include language in the Confirmation Order that the Debtor(s) will provide a copy of the filed 2012 Income Tax Returns prior to 5/31/2013. The required language to be included as an additional provision in the Order is, “…the debtor(s) shall submit to the Chapter 13 Trustee a copy of the filed Federal Income Tax returns required pursuant to Bankruptcy Code Section 1325(a)(9) and 1308(a)”.

We understand that many of our debtors have been affected by Hurricane Sandy and have not been able to make their November 1st payment.  In such cases, please try to make your payment as soon as possible.

If you are unable to make your Trustee payment, please contact your bankruptcy attorney.

D.N.J. LBR 5071-1 CONTINUANCE

(a) An adjournment request shall be made no later than 3 business days before the hearing date. Before requesting an adjournment, the requesting party shall attempt to obtain the consent of the other parties and inform the Court of their position, including the reasons for any opposition.

(b) If a request cannot be presented to the Court within the time period provided in (a), the parties shall appear on the hearing date. The adjournment request will be considered at that time.

Compliance with this rule has been slipping and some practitioners have, appropriately, brought this to the court’s attention. The purpose of the rule is to avoid waste of attorney’s time, client’s funds and judicial resources in preparing for a matter that is not ready to proceed.

In order to encourage compliance with Local Rule 5071-1, I will adopt the following procedure:

1. A request for adjournment will be considered timely if made, with the consent of all parties in interest, by 4 P.M. on Wednesday for a Monday motion day.

2. Timely requests for adjournment with the consent of all parties in interest may be granted unless the court orders otherwise.

3. One late adjournment request with the consent of all parties in interest, may be granted, however, the next return date will be peremptory. No further adjournments will be granted and the parties must be prepared to proceed.

Effective 10/1/12, Trustee shall not pay tardily filed claims unless otherwise provided for by Court order.  Debtor’s counsel is to review all claims with the bar date and object to any claims that are tardily filed. In default of such objection, the Trustee shall file a Motion to Expunge the Claim, however, debtor or creditor can file an objection or response to the Motion setting forth reasons for allowance of the claim.  Such allowance shall be subject to discretion of the Court.

Click here to view the updated claims policy.

trustee compensation

Trustee compensation will be calculated on payments received. The most notable adjustment in this modification is that Chapter 13 percentage fees will now be calculated on cases converted and dismissed prior to confirmation.

PARALEGAL ASSIGNMENTS

Judge assignments for our paralegals has changed per the following contact list.

Supervisor – Sharon (ext. 112)  sford@russotrustee.com
Judge Lyons cases – Diana (ext. 121)  dsantiago@russotrustee.com
Judge Kaplan cases – Katie (ext. 135)  katherine@russotrustee.com
Judge Ferguson cases – Jean (ext. 114)  janderson@russotrustee.com

DISPOSITION CALENDAR

There is an email link available from the disposition calendar to contact the paralegal assigned to that hearing date.

Our online, electronic payment system, ePay, is now live.  CLICK HERE to learn more about ePay.

The Honor Roll has been replaced with the CALENDAR DISPOSITION LIST.

Beginning with the May 8, 2012 calendar, the status of ALL CASES on the confirmation calendar will be posted to the Calendar Disposition List. This will allow debtor and creditor attorneys to view the Trustee’s position on confirmation prior to the hearing.

Click the link above or the link to the right under the SITE NAVIGATION header.

Check the list often, as cases will be posted as they are worked by our legal department!