Notice of March 27, 2022 Expiration of Bankruptcy Related Provisions Contained in the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021

In January, we notified you of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act) provisions that expired on December 27, 2021.  Today, we are notifying you of additional CARES Act provisions that expired yesterday, March 27, 2022.

On March 27, 2020, the President signed into law the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act. A year later, on March 27, 2021, the President signed into law an amended version of the Act which extended the provisions in §1113 of the CARES Act for one year. As of today, no information extending these provisions has been received and therefore, the provisions expired yesterday, March 27, 2022. The expired provisions affect Official Forms 101, 122A-1, 122B-1, 122C-1, and 201. Those forms now revert back to the pre-CARES Act versions as of today, March 28, 2022.  Listed below are details of these recently expired provisions:

  1. Official Forms 101 and 201 were amended to permit a debtor to elect chapter 11, subchapter V treatment if aggregate debts are less than $7,500,000, and Forms 122A-1, 122B, and 122C-1, were amended to incorporate the CARES Act change to the definition of “current monthly income” and the calculation of disposable income. 

The pre-CARES Act versions of these forms (as amended December 1, 2021, in the case of Official Form 122B, and incorporating the April 1, 2022, dollar adjustments in the case of Official Form 201) are:   

  1. Chapter 13 Practice

The CARES Act added Subsection (d) to 11 U.S.C. § 1329 to permit a debtor to modify a confirmed plan, after notice and a hearing, if they were experiencing a “material financial hardship” due, “directly or indirectly,” to the COVID-19 pandemic. Debtors were given the ability to request a temporary suspension of plan payments and the life of a Chapter 13 plan was temporarily allowed to extend up to seven years after the first payment under the original confirmed plan became due. This subsection, 11 U.S.C. § 1329(d), expired on March 27, 2022.

Case Management/Electronic Case Filing [CM/ECF] Events

In addition, due to the expiration of the §1329(d) provisions, please note the following CM/ECF events will no longer be available:

  1. Event: Notice of Mortgage Forbearance;
  2. Event: Notice of Mortgage Payment Change

There remains a possibility that these CARES Act provisions could be renewed or extended retroactively at a later time, and if so we will notify you promptly.  We will continue to monitor the situation and inform you of any action.

 

Monday, March 28, 2022