Unclaimed Funds

(a) Searching Unclaimed Funds. The Bankruptcy Clerk must participate in the U.S. Bankruptcy Unclaimed Funds Locator, available at https://ucf.uscourts.gov/. (b) Filing Requirements for Application and Disbursement of Unclaimed Funds. (1) The Bankruptcy Clerk must make the Application for Payment of Unclaimed Funds, instructions, and, if applicable, proposed order(s) easily accessible from its court website.

Applicants seeking unclaimed funds must use the standardized application and proposed orders set forth on the Bankruptcy Clerk’s website. (2) Applications for unclaimed funds may be filed electronically through the 20 (3) (4) (5) (6) CM/ECF case management system or by delivering same to the Bankruptcy Clerk’s office by United States mail, courier service or hand delivery. The Application for Payment of Unclaimed Funds must be publicly docketed in CM/ECF. If the supporting documentation accompanying the Application for Payment of Unclaimed Funds contains personal identifiers protected under Fed. R. Bankr. P. 9037, it must be docketed as a private event in CM/ECF.

It is not necessary that a closed case be reopened before a party can file an Application for Payment of Unclaimed Funds. The Bankruptcy Clerk shall not issue of a payment of unclaimed funds solely in the name of a funds locator. If a funds locator submits an application for payment of unclaimed funds on behalf of the rightful claimant, the Bankruptcy Clerk is authorized to issue payment jointly to the claimant and the funds locator or to the claimant “in care of” the funds locator. In no event, shall the Bankruptcy Clerk make a separate payment to the funds locator to split out any fee or commission.

A party shall not be required to file a notice of transfer of claim in a closed case where the claimant requesting withdrawal of unclaimed funds is not the owner of record, but rather a successor, assignee, transferee, or purchaser of the claim, who has not filed the notice of transfer of claim. (c) Attorney Requirements. (1) (2) Any person (including a business entity) shall be permitted to file an Application for Payment of Unclaimed Funds pro se. If an attorney files an Application for Payment of Unclaimed Funds, it is not necessary for the attorney to be a member of the bar for this court or be admitted pro hac vice to appear in the underlying case.

(d) Post-Filing Process. (1) The person filing an Application for Payment of Unclaimed Funds must serve the parties designated by Local Bankruptcy Rule 9013-1(b)(4) and the parties shall have twenty-one (21) days thereafter to file an objection thereto. If an objection is filed, the Bankruptcy Clerk shall notice the matter for hearing. If no objection is filed with the court within the objection period after the filing of the application, the application and accompanying documents may be considered by the court without a hearing.

The filing and entry of the Application for payment of Unclaimed Funds on the docket of the case in CM/ECF shall constitute notice by electronic service under LBR 9036-1. 21 (2) (3) If an Application for Payment of Unclaimed Funds is deficient, the Bankruptcy Clerk shall notify the person filing the application of the deficiency. The Bankruptcy Clerk’s office may contact the applicant for additional proof of identity or entitlement to the funds. To allow the fourteen (14) day appeal period to run following entry of an order for payment of unclaimed funds, the order shall state that the unclaimed funds may be disbursed only after fourteen (14) calendar days from the entry of the court’s judgment or disbursement order.