GENERAL

INFO.

 

Since reaffirmation agreements have signatures other than the attorney’s signature, this is one of the documents that you will need to save for two years after the case is closed, pursuant to our new local rules and administrative procedures.

 

Since most attorney’s clients provide the mostly completed form that has everyone else’s signatures, this is a pleading that you will need to scan to convert to .pdf format after adding your signature.

 

 

 

HELP SCREENS

 

Help is available for most screens by clicking on the  button.  The help box will display describing the fields and what entry is required for the window you are currently viewing.

 

 

Click on the  button at the upper right hand corner of the screen or the  button to close the help screen.

 

 

 

STEP 1

 

Log in to the CM/ECF System using your ECF Login and Password if you aren’t already logged in.

 

NOTE:  After logging in, if you click on Netscape Navigator’s  (resize) button accidentally instead of clicking the minimize  button, or if you drag the sides to resize the Netscape window, there is a Netscape Navigator bug which will throw you out of your CM/ECF session and you will lose all the information that you have entered up to that point.  So, resize the window before you login!

 

 

 

STEP 2

 

Click on “Bankruptcy” in the blue menu bar at the top of the screen.

                                   

 

 

 

 

STEP 3

 

Click on the  hyperlink in the categories list.

 

 

 

STEP 4

 

The “Miscellaneous” case number screen will display next.  It may contain the case number of the last case you have been using during the current login session.

Change the case number if necessary, and then click the  button.  If you need to change the case number, enter the correct case number as
yy-nnnnn (including the hyphen).

 

NOTE:  If you changed the case number and entered it incorrectly, the system will display the following message regarding the case number format. 

 

 

Click the  button or the  button and try entering the case number again.

 

 

 

STEP 5

 

The “Miscellaneous” selection box appears.  Navigate down to the “Reaffirmation Agreement” entry by typing “r” once (in its current position) or by using the scroll bar.

 

 

 

 

STEP 6

 

Click the  button.

 

 

 

STEP 7

 

The opportunity to include information about whether the pleading is being filed jointly with another attorney will now appear.  If you are filing jointly, follow the steps set out in the separate instructions on the “Joint Filing Option”.

 

 

Click the  button since reaffirmation agreements, while signed by several parties, are generally not filed jointly.

 

 

 

STEP 8

 

A screen similar to the following “Select the Party:” screen will now display.  If your client is already in the list of parties, you simply click on their name to highlight and select them as shown in the example below. 

 

 

 

For the training case, click “National City Bank”.

 

Then, click the  button and finish filing the pleading because no searching or adding will be necessary. 

 

NOTE:  If this is the first pleading you have filed on behalf of your client in a debtor’s bankruptcy case, they will NOT be in the list of party filers for the case unless someone else has previously filed a pleading on behalf of your client in the case.

 

Click the  hyperlink If your client is not already in the list of parties in the case.

 

NOTE:  Although the hyperlink is labeled “Add/Create New Party”, what you are really doing is searching for a party that likely already exists and only adding them if they do not already exist in the party records table.

 

 

 

STEP 9

 

You then have an opportunity to browse for and select the .pdf image of the “Reaffirmation Agreement”.

 

 

Follow the separate instructions for “Browsing For and Selecting the Correct .pdf Document” to find, open, review, and select the “Reaffirmation Agreement” .pdf image.

 

For the training case, the .pdf documents will be on the local “c:/” drive.

 

NOTE:  At your law firm, the .pdf documents may be stored on a network drive or on the “c:/” drive of a staff member’s computer.

 

 

 

.PDF WARNING MESSAGE

 

If you click on the  button to advance without attaching a .pdf document, a “Warning Message” will be displayed.

 

 

Click the  button to close the message.

 

You will then, once again, have the opportunity to browse to select the .pdf image of the document.

 

 

 

STEP 10

 

Now an informational message will display.

 

 

Read the message and follow the directions on the next screen.

 

 

 

STEP 11

 

Click the  button.

 

 

 

STEP 12

 

The opportunity to add the creditor’s name now displays.

 

 

Click in the white “text box” and type the creditor’s name as shown in the example below.

 

 

 

 

STEP 13

 

Click the  button.

 

 

 

FINAL DOCKET TEXT SCREEN

 

The “Docket Text: Final Text” window displays.

 

 

NOTE:  The “Attention!!” message shown above is to alert you to the fact that this is the point of no return!  This is the last opportunity to make any changes before the document is officially filed.  

 

 

 

NOTES RE: ERRORS MADE WHILE FILING

 

If the docket text is incorrect, click on the browser’s  button as many times as necessary to find the error and correct it.

 

NOTE:  You will not be able to use the  button to correct your errors if you are using Internet Explorer 5.5 because you will be thrown out of the system the 2nd time you click it.  You will need to click on the “Bankruptcy “ hyperlink in the main menu bar. 

 

 


 

Then, you will have to start filing the “Reaffirmation Agreement” all over again and you will have lost most of the information that you have entered.

 

NOTE:  If using Netscape Version 4.7, you can usually go backwards and forwards through the various screens using the browser’s “Back” and “Forward” buttons without losing any data as long as you make no changes.  But, if you make a change, the information on the screens from the point of the error forward will have to be re-entered after you have corrected the error because the information from the error forward will have been lost.  Also, if you back up to a screen earlier than the screen where you search for the .pdf document, you will lose the .pdf document and you will have to search for the .pdf document and select it all over again.

 

 

 

STEP 15

 

Click the  button.

 

 

 

SUMMARY

OF CHARGES SCREEN

 

There are no filing fees for filing a “Reaffirmation Agreement”.  However, if you owe filing fees for previous documents filed, the “Summary of Current Charges” screen will display next. 

 

Click the  button and follow the separate instructions for “Payment of Fees Via the Internet”, if you wish to go ahead and pay the filing fee immediately.

 

Click the  button, if you wish to pay all the filing fees for a particular day all at once near the end of the day.  Later, when you desire to pay all your accumulated filing fees for the day, follow the separate instructions for “Payment of Fees Via the Internet”.

NOTICE OF

ELEC-

TRONIC FILING

 

The “Notice of Electronic Filing” will now display.  See the separate instructions regarding “Notices of Electronic Filing”.