Rebecca B. Connelly
How Judge Connelly rules, drawn from 23 signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
About Judge Connelly
Rebecca B. Connelly has served as a United States Bankruptcy Judge for the Western District of Virginia since July 2012. She presides over matters in Harrisonburg, Charlottesville, and Lynchburg.
Judge Connelly's practices and standing orders
Rules for cases before Judge Connelly, as published on the court's website (checked October 11, 2026). Judges revise these often, so confirm the current version on the court's site before you file.
- Judge Rebecca Connelly — Hearings ↗
- Judge Connelly Zoom Video Hearing Dates and Times ↗
- Amended Plan Filing Charts ↗
Key rules
Motions
Use Judge Connelly’s amended plan chart to find the confirmation hearing date from the date the plan was served.
“Amended Plan is served on this date Confirmation will be scheduled for this date at 9:30”
Conferences
Judge Connelly holds initial and nonevidentiary hearings by video unless the notice or scheduling order says otherwise.
“Unless the notice of hearing or an order scheduling hearing provides otherwise, all of Judge Connelly’s initial hearings and nonevidentiary hearings will be held by video conference.”
Conferences
Email the scheduling address to obtain the Zoom meeting ID for a video hearing.
“Parties to a matter set for video hearing must contact [email protected] to obtain the Zoom Meeting ID number.”
Conferences
Request chambers approval by email before scheduling an in-person hearing before Judge Connelly.
“Judge Connelly’s in person hearings will only be held upon approval by her chambers. To request approval of an in person hearing, you must email [email protected].”
Trial
Judge Connelly conducts evidentiary hearings in person unless otherwise ordered.
“Unless ordered otherwise, all evidentiary hearings will be conducted in person.”
Standing orders for every case in this court
Orders the court applies to all of its cases, whichever judge has them, as published on the court's website (checked October 11, 2026).
How Judge Connelly decides
Patterns drawn from this judge's own signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
What persuades
An administrative pause in collection does not remove an otherwise valid tax liability from the debtor's total debt.
“An administrative determination that an account is not collectible does not extinguish or reduce the underlying tax obligation.”
The court applies enacted statutory text without importing restrictions that the legislature did not include.
“As such, this Court will not read into the statute language that is not present or enacted by the legislature.”
Procedural preferences
A proposed plan modification must be supported by sufficiently stable income to make the new payments feasible; an unliquidated asset alone is insufficient.
“Merely holding a nonliquid asset or a claim (a right to payment) is not enough; the debtor must be able to make the payments under the plan as modified to render the modification feasible.”
Cautions
Bad-faith dismissal requires circumstances showing real abuse rather than an unfavorable prepetition act or a filing directed at one large debt.
“Dismissal for bad faith, therefore, should be reserved for cases of real misconduct.”
Signed rulings
A grounded sample of orders signed by this judge, with the verbatim dispositive language.
“Westlake’s sole basis for seeking an examination under Rule 2004—to determine whether the presumption of abuse arises under the means test—is mooted by the Court’s determination that section 707(b) is inapplicable to this case.”
“Therefore, Ms. Miller’s claim is not for a domestic support obligation and, thus, is not entitled to priority status under 11 U.S.C. § 507(a)(1)(A).”
“For all of the foregoing reasons, the Court denies the motion to dismiss the petition and denies relief from stay.”
“For these reasons, the Court denies in part and grants in part the motion to quash the garnishment.”
“For the reasons set forth below, the Court holds as a matter of law that the debts to Dulles Electric that arose after the individual guarantors filed chapter 7 were not discharged in the individual guarantors' bankruptcy cases.”
“The debtor in this case did not take the credit counseling course during that time period. She has not articulated any reason why this requirement is inapplicable to her nor why the requirement should be waived.”
“For the foregoing reasons, the Court dissolves the temporary injunction and denies all pending motions.”
“The Court therefore grants Ms. Hanson's motion for summary judgment.”
After review of stipulated facts, the creditor failed to prove that the debtor's handling of tax refunds caused a willful and malicious injury.
“The Committee’s motion to dismiss is denied.”
After trial, suspicious timing did not overcome evidence that the debtor transferred property to liquidate assets and pay existing obligations rather than to hinder or defraud a creditor.
“For the foregoing reasons, the Court overrules the trustee’s objection to confirmation of the debtors’ plan, and denies the trustee’s request to compel Sean and Melinda to amend Official Form 22C-1, Schedule I, and their chapter 13 plan.”
Caseload & timing
From public federal docket records for this judge.
Six sampled matters carried termination dates. Andrews had a signed denial of a motion to vacate its earlier dismissal, although its case-level index did not report a termination date. Piland and Andrews supplied the two contested motion intervals; the five early streams were empty.
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