U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky
6 judges profiled from their own signed orders: how each rules on motions, with the orders quoted. Court-wide standing orders ↓
Joe LeeDeceased
Bankruptcy judge
William S. HowardNo longer serving
Bankruptcy judge
Tracey N. WiseRetired 2024
Bankruptcy judge
Joseph M. Scott Jr.Deceased
Bankruptcy judge
Gregory R. Schaaf
Bankruptcy judge
Douglas L. Lutz
Bankruptcy judge, appointed by Merit selection
Standing orders for every case in this court
Orders the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky applies to all of its cases, whichever judge has them, as published on the court's website (checked October 11, 2026). Courts revise these, so confirm the current version before you file. The court's local rules ↗
Filing
File all cases, pleadings, and other documents through ECF unless the manual provides an exception.
“All cases, proceedings, pleadings and documents must be filed electronically using the Electronic Case Filing (ECF) System unless otherwise specified herein.”
Filing
A paper filing must include a motion explaining why ECF filing is unavailable.
“Paper filings must be accompanied by a motion for permission to file by means other than electronically and state the specific reasons that the filing cannot be made using the ECF System.”
Filing
Tender a proposed order as an attachment to its motion or other filing and select “Proposed Order” as the attachment type.
“Proposed orders are to be tendered as attachments to the corresponding motion or other document. When attaching the order select ‘Proposed Order’ as the type of attachment.”
Filing
Do not add a certificate of service or other extraneous material to a proposed order.
“Proposed orders must contain only the text of the order and attorney signature block(s), if applicable (e.g., for agreed orders). Certificates of service must not be affixed to or combined with the proposed order”
Filing
File each exhibit separately; split any exhibit larger than 35 MB into components of 35 MB or less.
“Each separate exhibit must be filed as a separate attachment to the main document. If any particular exhibit exceeds 35 MB, the exhibit must be broken down into separate components of 35 MB or less”
Filing
For a removed action, submit an index and separate, dated documents from the prior court instead of a single combined PDF.
“The state or federal court record must not be submitted as a single combined PDF and must not be uploaded without an index or clear identification of individual documents.”
Conferences
Notice motions, objections, applications, and responses for hearing in the division where the case is pending, unless the court orders otherwise.
“Motions, objections, applications, and responses to any such motions, objections or applications, shall be noticed for hearing in the division in which the case is pending, unless otherwise ordered by the Court.”
Sealing
File a motion to seal before the proposed sealed document and do not attach the document to that public motion.
“A party seeking to file a sealed document shall electronically file a motion to seal document prior to filing the sealed document. The document the party is requesting to seal must not be attached to the motion”
Sealing
Serve a proposed sealed document by another method on parties entitled to notice; ECF notice does not give them electronic access to it.
“the proposed sealed document will not be available electronically. The filing party must use an alternate form of service to provide any parties entitled to notice with copies of a sealed document.”