Official Procedure Last Change October 5, 2017

Change of Address

These instructions are for attorneys only. See separate procedure for instructions for limited users.

General Information

• The Court cannot change an address on a bankruptcy case simply because it has been advised of a new address via a phone call or a yellow label on mail returned by the USPS. Therefore, any Change of Address of any party or creditor on a case must be submitted in writing by the debtor, the trustee, or the party whose address has changed. The plaintiff in an adversary proceeding may also file a change of address for a defendant who has not yet filed a responsive pleading.
• It is not necessary for a creditor to file changes of address for all the cases in which they are listed. The creditor can simply submit their new address to the National Creditor Registration Service, which will ensure that all mail to that creditor from then on, from any Bankruptcy Court and on any case, is sent to that address.
• If a change of address is filed on a case that has a pending adversary proceeding, the address will not be changed on that adversary proceeding unless a change of address is filed on the adversary case also.
• Users who are electronic filers and who wish to submit a change of address for themselves do not need to file a Change of Address on one or all of their active cases. Instead, they should change their address on pacer.uscourts.gov using Modify Your Account. This change will automatically be applied to all affected cases.

Filing requirements 

• The Change of Address must be signed by the filing party.
• The prior address as well as the corrected address should be included. Without the inclusion of the prior/incorrect address, it may be impossible for the court to determine which address should be changed, in which case the old address will continue to receive notices from the court in addition to the new address.
• A Change of Address of a creditor (unless filed by the creditor themselves) must be accompanied by a Certificate of Service showing service of the Notice of Change of Address to Creditors with New or Corrected Address, Notice of Meeting of Creditors with full Social Security Number shown and any other documents that have already been sent out to all creditors, such as the most recent Chapter 13 Plan, Notice of Confirmation Hearing, etc. to the creditor at the new address. See sample Change of Address form.  If the creditor has already received the Notice of Meeting of Creditors at their old address, a Statement in Lieu of Notice must be filed instead of the Certificate of Service.
• If debtor receives return mail for any creditor or party and is unable to determine a correct address for them, the Debtor should file a Notice of Address Unavailability, specifying the creditor’s name and reporting that a correct address cannot be located. Upon the filing of such a notice, the court will code the address so that no further notices or orders are sent to that creditor or party in interest.

Step-by-Step Instructions

1. Log into CM/ECF.

2. Select Bankruptcy > Notices & Certifications.

3. Enter case number (in the format xx-xxxxx) and click Next.

4. Select Change of Address, Notice of from the event list and click Next.

5. Check box if jointly filing with another attorney, click Next. If jointly filing, select additional attorneys, click Next.

6. Select the party filer. If the party is not listed, or cannot be selected, view instructions on adding a new party. Click Next.

Note: The "Attorney/Party Association” screen may appear. If your party selection was correct, check the box to create an association and click Next.

7. Browse to select the document to be filed (pdf file). Click Next.

8. Select appropriate radio button (debtor, creditor, other), click Next.

9.

• If change of address is for a debtor and you are filing on a joint case, you are asked if the change of address applies to both debtors. Select appropriate radio button and click Next. If you indicated that it does not apply to both debtors, enter the name of the debtor that the change of address does apply to and click Next.
• If change of address is for a creditor: Enter the name of the creditor.
• If change of address is for another party: Enter the name and role of the other party (e.g. Creditor's Committee Attorney John Smith)

10. Select appropriate radio button to indicate whether you are attaching a Certificate of Service or Statement in Lieu (either as an attachment or as part of the same PDF) and click Next (this step is skipped if filing a change of address for a debtor).

11. Select prefix text, if applicable, and click Next.

12. Verify the final docket text; if correct, click Next to submit your document(s).

Note: The Notice of Electronic Filing displays giving you the document number. Copies of this notice are immediately e-mailed to all participants who receive electronic notification in the case.