Local Rule RULE 1015-1: CONSOLIDATION OR JOINT ADMINISTRATION

RULE 1015-1 CONSOLIDATION OR JOINT ADMINISTRATION

(a) Cases Involving Spouses.

(1) Joint Case. A case filed by spouses under § 302 shall be presumptively consolidated. In a chapter 7 asset case, the assets and liabilities shall be combined into a single pool to pay creditors, unless the court, upon motion made returnable prior to the final hearing on the trustee's final report and accounting, terminates the consolidation.

(2) Motion to Sever. At the request of one (1) or both of the joint debtors, and upon payment of the required fee, the joint bankruptcy case may be severed into two (2) separate cases, after which either debtor may convert his or her individual case. A motion to sever is not required for dismissal of a case with respect to one (1) of the joint debtors.

(b) Motion. A motion for joint administration or consolidation shall: (1) be filed in each of the affected cases; (2) be served on all creditors and parties in interest; and (3) designate one (1) of the cases as the main case.

(c) Matrix. Prior to the entry of an order of joint administration or consolidation, movant shall request copies from the Clerk or through PACER of the matrices for each of the cases affected by the order. Movant shall submit a supplemental certified matrix containing only those parties not already included on the matrix from the main case, without duplications or omissions. The matrix must comply with the filing requirements as set forth in LBR 1007-2 and shall be filed within seven (7) days of the entry of the order of consolidation or joint administration. This requirement shall not apply to the consolidation of a joint case under paragraph (a) of this Rule.

(d) Order. The proposed order of joint administration or consolidation must identify the main case and be uploaded in only the main case. The order shall be entered by the Clerk in each of the affected cases. In addition, the proposed order shall contain the following recitation:

Within seven (7) days of entry of this order, movant shall submit a supplemental certified mailing matrix, in conformance with LBR 1007-2, containing only those parties not previously included on the mailing matrix filed in the main case.

(e) Caption, Docket Entries and Filing. Prior to the entry of an order of consolidation or joint administration, all documents shall be captioned by their individual titles.

(1) Consolidation. Once separate cases have been ordered consolidated, they will be treated as one (1) case for all purposes, with a single case number, caption, claims register and docket.

(2) Joint Administration. Subsequent to the entry of an order of joint administration, all documents shall be captioned in the case or cases to which they pertain and shall be entered and filed in the main case. The Clerk may rely upon the document's caption in determining the case or cases to which a particular document applies.

(3) Proofs of Claim. A proof of claim should be filed in the case for the specific debtor against which the creditor holds the claim. It is the responsibility of the filing party to correctly identify the case in which to file the claim. A claim filed after cases have been ordered jointly administered is docketed per the case number identified on the claim.

(f) Noncompliance. Failure to comply with paragraph (c) of this Rule is cause for the Court to vacate its order of joint administration or consolidation and deny the relief requested.

Comment Consolidation includes substantive consolidation.

An example of a caption for a jointly administered case is:

UNITED STATES BANKRUPTCY COURT NORTHERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK In re: ABC COMPANY, LP, et al., Debtors Case No. 10-XXXXX Chapter 11 (Main Case) Case No. 10-XXXXX Case No. 10-XXXXX Jointly Administered