Advisory Rules Committee Adopts Amendments to Bankruptcy Rule 3002.1

By: Phoebe S. Winder, Ryan M. Tosi, Mary L. Thibadeau

Recently, the Advisory Committee on Bankruptcy Rules voted unanimously in favor of adopting the proposed changes to Bankruptcy Rule 3002.1 as originally published August 2014 and as discussed in our alert entitled “Have You Noticed Your Payment Change? Advisory Rules Committee Proposes Amendments to Bankruptcy Rule 3002.1” (available here). The Advisory Committee now seeks the Standing Committee’s final approval of the amended rule.

Although the rule amendments unfortunately do not address the difficulties surrounding the filing of timely and accurate payment change notices for home equity lines of credit or daily simple interest accounts, the report notes that the rule’s applicability to these accounts was discussed, and that “publication of a proposed amendment to address that issue will be sought later as part of a larger package of related amendments.” Thus, while it appears that the Committee is open to the idea of further amending Rule 3002.1 to address home equity lines of credit and daily simple interest accounts, the amendments will not be made in the near term.

The rule changes adopted by the Advisory Committee are not anticipated to go into effect until December 1, 2016; however, certain new “modernized” forms, including the proof of claim form and mortgage attachment, payment change notice form, and post-petition fee notice form, are scheduled to go into effect on December 1, 2015, pending approval by the Judicial Conference. K&L Gates will continue to monitor the proposed changes to the rule and will report on significant developments.