Online Filing | Northern District of Florida (2024)

Announcements

No CM/ECF announcements at this time.

Electronic Filing (CM/ECF Live)

Use the link below to FILE cases or documents in bankruptcy cases and/or adversary proceedings filed in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of Florida. Electronic filing is not available to self-represented debtors. Please review the court’s Electronic Filing Policy for Self-Represented Debtors to learn how to view documents online and receive electronic copies of notices and orders entered by the court.

Access CM/ECF

(CM/ECF users must obtain a PACER account in order to view case and docket information).

File a Proof of Claim or Claim Attachments (ePOC)

Creditors may file an electronic Proof of Claim (ePOC), amend a claim, or file claim attachments pursuant to Fed. R. Bankr. P. 3002(c)(7)(B) without logging into or being required to have a login and password for CM/ECF. Attach supporting documentation to your claim by selecting the button at the bottom of the claim form screen.

File a Proof of Claim or an Amended Proof of Claim

File a Financial Management Course Certificate (Providers Only)

Approved debtor education providers of a course in personal financial management may notify the court directly using a program called eFinCert when a debtor has completed a post-petition instructional course. See Fed. R. Bankr. P. 1007(b)(7). Certificates may be filed and attached without logging into or being required to have a login and password for CM/ECF. Attach the certificate(s) by selecting the radio button(s) on the screen.

Access eFinCert

Accessing Court Records

Records Accessed Through PACER (Online)

www.pacer.gov

PACER is the national Public Access to Electronic Court Records service. While the screens for PACER and CM/ECF are nearly identical, you may only VIEW case information and/or documents in PACER unless you also have requested and been granted filing access to the CM/ECF system in the Northern District of Florida. See theRequest for Access to CM/ECF section of this website for information on obtaining access to the Northern District of Florida.

Note that, in accordance with the Federal Judiciary’s 2003 implementation of its policy on privacy and public access to electronic case files, PACER will not allow public access to documents (i.e., PDF files) filed in Bankruptcy cases opened before December 1, 2003 andwhich have been closed for over one year. This restriction also applies to documents in such cases that have been appealed to the district courts, the bankruptcy appellate panels, or the courts of appeals. Exceptions to the above limitation include the following:

• Docket sheets and docket information in restricted cases will still be accessible electronically via PACER;
• All documents (i.e., PDF files) in a particular restricted case will be available electronically via PACER to any person who has filed a notice of appearance in that case; and
• Copies of documents (i.e., PDF files) in restricted cases will be accessible at the Clerk’s Office if they are in electronic format. Otherwise, copies may be obtained through the Federal Records Center or through Clerk's Office staff.

Records Accessed through Clerk's Office Staff or Lobby Access Terminals

Copies of documents may be obtained from the Clerk’s Office through:

• Direct employee assistance at our Tallahassee and Pensacola locations;
• Self-service access using the public access terminals located in the Tallahassee and Pensacola Bankruptcy Court or Gainesville District Court Intake lobbies;
• The Federal Records Center (FRC) using accession, location and box information provided to the customer by Clerk’s Office staff; or
• The use of a mailed or faxed A8 Request for Copies form accompanied by a faxed A1 Credit Card One Time Authorization form, personal check, cashier’s check, or money order for the total amount of the request. A debtor in an open bankruptcy case must pay using a money order or a cashier’s check. Personal checks and credit cards are not accepted from debtors with open cases.

Consult the A8 Request for Copiesform for fee information applicable to copies obtained through Clerk’s Office personnel. This form also outlines fees charged for additional services including document certification and exemplification.

Training Database (CM/ECF Train)

If you are unfamiliar with PACER and/or the CM/ECF electronic case filing system, we recommend that review the documentation, learning aids, and training videos available at https://pacer.uscourts.gov/help. You may also request access to our Training Database through Training PACER then use the link below to file documents and cases for training purposes. The CM/ECF Training Database is publicly accessible and care should be taken to ensure compliance with Fed. R. Bankr. P. 9037 regarding protection of personally identifiable information.

Access the CM/ECF Training Database

Administrative Procedures Regarding Electronic Case Filing

Use this link to review the rules and requirements for filing electronically in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of Florida. This process is governed by Standing Order Number Eleven.

Access the Administrative Procedures for Filing, Signing, and Verifying Pleadings and Papers by Electronic Means

Request Access to CM/ECF

All requests for access to CM/ECF at the U.S. Bankruptcy Court, Northern District of Florida must be submitted through PACER. An upgraded PACER account is required. A free PACER account may be obtained at https://pacer.uscourts.gov/.

Attorney Access - Attorneys must be admitted to practice in the Northern District of Florida before CM/ECF filing access will be granted.

Attorney PHV Access - Attorneys wishing to appear pro hac vice in a bankruptcy case in the Northern District of Florida must first apply through the U.S. District Court, Northern District of Florida in accordance with N.D. Fla. Loc. R. 11.1(C) and N.D. Fla. LBR 2090-1(B). Once appearance has been granted, the attorney must request access to the Bankruptcy Court through their upgraded PACER account and must include the case number(s) in which the attorney will be appearing in the “Most Recent Case (in court where you are registering)” field during the E-File Registration for our court.

Access the Pro Hac Vice Information Page

Creditor/Limited Use Access- Access for non-attorney filers or attorneys who are not admitted to practice in the Northern District of Florida who wish to file documents such as Proofs of Claim, Reaffirmation Agreements, Requests for Notice, or other creditor-type pleadings. Proofs of Claim may also be e-filed through the Court’s website without a PACER account using ePOC.

Filing Agent Access- Filing agent access is for persons authorized to e-file on behalf of an attorney or trustee (only). Once a Filing Agent is given access to CM/ECF at our court, they will not be permitted to file in CM/ECF until the attorney or trustee with whom they are associated has linked the Filing Agent account to their attorney or trustee account in CM/ECF. NOTE: Persons filing on behalf of a creditor entity may not register as a Filing Agent.

Child Support Creditor Access - Complete and submit Local Form A7Application for Login and Password for Child Support Creditor or Representative. Submit a request for Creditor/Limited Use access to our court through PACER. Once the application form is received in our court, we will approve the PACER request for access.

CM/ECF Password Reset Request

Contact CMECF_Helpdesk@flnb.uscourts.gov if you are a current ECF account holder and have forgotten your password.

CM/ECF Training

Please contact the CM/ECF Help Desk for assistance with training.

How to Submit Proposed Orders

Proposed orders are to be submitted to the court electronically in Microsoft Word (.doc or .docx) or Rich Text (.rtf) format. Attachments to proposed orders may be submitted in Portable Document Format (PDF). Submissions must be made via the "Submit Proposed Orders" link in CM/ECF. Due to software constraints, multiple proposed orders must be submitted separately. Proposed orders should be submitted immediately after the filing of the motion. This allows Clerk’s Office staff to route the proposed order to Chambers as soon as applicable.

Proposed Order Guidelines – Contains document formatting requirements.

Submitting Proposed Orders– Contains technical information about proposed order submissions.

Case Numbering

The case numbering format used by the Northern District of Florida Bankruptcy Court was impacted by the implementation of CM/ECF on November 11, 2003 as explained below. See the table at the end of this section for full case number examples.

Bankruptcy Cases filed before November 11, 2003:

• Case numbers were seven digits in length, separated by a dash after the first two digits.
• The first two digits indicated the year in which the case was filed (e.g., 02- for a case filed in 2002).
• The third digit (first after the dash) indicated the division in which the case was filed.
  • Gainesville = 0
  • Pensacola = 4
  • Tallahassee = 7
  • Panama City = 2
• The remaining digits were the numeric sequence in which the case was filed in that division (e.g., 02-70003 was the third case filed in the Tallahassee division in 2002).
  

Adversary Cases filed before November 11, 2003):

• Case numbers were seven digits in length, separated by a dash after the first two digits.
• The first two digits indicated the year in which the case was filed (e.g., 02- for a case filed in 2002).
• The third digit (first after the dash) indicated the office in which the case file was physically located.
  • Pensacola = 8 (includes cases assigned to the Pensacola Division)
  • Tallahassee = 9 (includes cases assigned to the Tallahassee, Gainesville and Panama City divisions)
• The remaining digits were the numeric sequence in which the case filed in that office that year (e.g., 02-90147 was the 147th case to be filed in the Tallahassee office (including Panama City and Gainesville divisions).

Bankruptcy and Adversary Cases filed after November 10, 2003:

• Case numbers are seven digits in length, separated by a dash after the first two digits.
• The first two digits indicate the year in which the case was filed (e.g., 10- for a case filed in 2010).
• The digits after the dash reflect the division in which the case was filed and the case type, i.e., adversary proceeding, miscellaneous proceeding, or bankruptcy. The divisional codes for all case types are as follows:

  Gainesville = 1 Pensacola = 3 Tallahassee = 4 Panama City = 5

  The second half of the case number (after the dash) that begins with:

  • a divisional code number denotes a bankruptcy case;
  • one zero after the dash denotes an adversary proceeding; and
  • two zeroes after the dash denotes a miscellaneous proceeding.

Each year on January 1 the numeric sequence portion of the case number starts over at one (1) and continues to increase numerically until the last case is opened for that calendar year (e.g., the last case filed in 2009 was 09-50884. There were 884 bankruptcy cases filed in the Panama City division in 2009).

Examples of pre- and post-CM/ECF implementation case number formats appear in the table below.

Requirement Regarding Voluminous Pleadings

Visit the Local Rules landing page to review the requirements of Local Rule 9013-1(E) regarding papers that exceed 50 pages, including any memoranda, attachments, affidavits, exhibits, or depositions referenced.