Centralized Processing of Returned Mail

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As of October 2012, the Judiciary’s Bankruptcy Noticing Center (BNC) contractor accepts, processes and securely disposes of notices that would otherwise be returned to the bankruptcy courts by the United States Postal Service (USPS). This service eliminates nearly all manual processing of returned mail previously performed by court personnel and provides timely notification to debtors’ attorneys of returned notices.

Previously, BNC returned mail went either to the court or to debtors’ attorneys. As a cost-savings and efficiency measure, bankruptcy courts have been strongly urged to have most returned mail sent to the debtor’s attorney, which provides notice that a better address for such recipient should be provided to the court. This procedure has not changed. What has changed, however, is that those pieces of mail that were previously directed for return to the bankruptcy courts are now being handled in one facility through the new centralized return mail program.

Terms of the Revised Contract:

  • The BNC contractor will have two business days from receipt to process the returned mail.
  • The contractor’s system will autogenerate a Notice of Returned Mail email notification to the debtor’s attorney, with a copy of the notice as a PDF attachment, advising of the returned mail by the USPS.
  • If no attorney email address is available or if the debtor is pro se, the Notice of Returned Mail will be sent by U.S. mail to the attorney or pro se debtor, as appropriate.

Debtors’ attorneys will receive returned mail in bankruptcy cases in two different ways:

  1. Regular USPS mail for the majority of items where the return address is the debtor’s attorney,
  2. Email Notices of Returned Mail for returned mail that would have been sent back to the bankruptcy court.

Click below for a sample Notice of Returned Mail:

SAMPLE NOTIFICATION