U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of Missouri
7 judges profiled from their own signed orders: how each rules on motions, with the orders quoted. Court-wide standing orders ↓
David P. McDonaldRetired
Bankruptcy judge
James J. BartaRetired
Bankruptcy judge
Barry S. SchermerRetired
Bankruptcy judge
Charles E. Rendlen IIIRetired 2020
Bankruptcy judge
Brian C. Walsh
Bankruptcy judge
Kathy A. Surratt-States
Bankruptcy judge
Bonnie L. Clair
Bankruptcy judge
Standing orders for every case in this court
Orders the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of Missouri 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 ↗
- Procedures Manual (revised August 10, 2026) ↗
- Video Conference Procedures ↗
- Standing Order No. 15-01: Photo Identification Required for All Non-Attorney In-Person Filers and Couriers ↗
Filing
Email proposed orders as Word attachments to the assigned judge; the combined email may not exceed 5 MB.
“Proposed orders shall be submitted to the Court by e-mail as an attached document in Microsoft Word format (suffix .doc or .docx) and shall be sent to the e-mail address that corresponds with the Judge assigned to the case referenced in the proposed order. Proposed orders submitted to the court in other formats may be returned for reformatting. The number of orders attached to an e-mail message is not limited. However, the combined size of the e-mail may not exceed 5 MB.”
Filing
Do not electronically file an attorney’s proposed order with a pleading.
“No attorney proposed orders are to be filed electronically with a pleading. See the Orders section of this Manual.”
Filing
Name a proposed-order file with the case number and judge code, a descriptive filename, and the Word extension.
“The proposed order must conform to the following naming convention: case number with judge code, descriptive file name (e.g. party and type of pleading) and appropriate file-type extension (‘.doc’ or ‘.docx’).”
Filing
A nonattorney filing in person must present government photo identification or the clerk will return the document unfiled.
“if the Clerk’s Office is given a document for filing by a non-attorney filer in person at the Clerk’s Office, the Clerk’s Office must be given a government-issued photo identification for the filer at the time of filing, or the document will be returned unfiled.”
Conferences
Request permission to appear by telephone from the judge’s courtroom deputy at least two business days before the hearing, unless it was set more urgently.
“An attorney or a party in a case may request to participate in any hearing via telephone by contacting the Courtroom Deputy for the Judge presiding over the case at the email address below at least two (2) business days before the date of the hearing, or as soon as possible if there are less than two (2) business days between the date the underlying pleading was filed and the hearing thereon.”
Conferences
Get the other parties’ consent before asking to appear by telephone.
“Prior to contacting the Court for permission, the party or counsel seeking to appear by telephone shall obtain the consent of all other parties to the telephonic appearance.”
Conferences
Confirm video availability with the courtroom deputy before giving notice of video participation.
“All parties wishing to participate in a proceeding via video conference must contact the Courtroom Deputy for the Judge presiding over the case at the email address below to confirm that video conferencing is available for the proceeding.”
Conferences
A nonmoving video participant who will present evidence must give notice at least ten days before the proceeding.
“Non-moving parties wishing to participate in a proceeding via video conference and present evidence must provide the Bankruptcy Court with its notice at least ten (10) days prior to the proceeding by contacting the Courtroom Deputy for the Judge presiding over the case at the email address below.”