Preparing Matrices on Diskette

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Matrix Preparation

The Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of Indiana will accept creditor matrices on a diskette provided you completely and accurately follow the guidelines contained in these instructions. To submit a matrix on a diskette you will need:

• An IBM compatible personal computer with either DOS® or Windows®.
• A 3 ˝" high-density diskette.
• A program that will produce ASCII text files such as a word processor or a text editor, or other programs with the capability of producing ASCII files. Examples of some of these programs include: WordPerfect, WordPerfect for Windows, Microsoft Word, Word for Windows, and the Windows Notepad. ASCII is American Standard Code for Information Interchange and is a standard format for representing characters. A text file is in ASCII format.
• A verification of the matrix on paper. You must submit the verification on paper regardless of whether you file a matrix on paper or on a diskette.

Creating the Matrix

• You must type lists in a single column on the page.
• Letters or characters cannot be closer than 1" from any edge of the page.
• Each name and address must consist of no more than five lines. The last line of each address can only contain the city, state and zip code. Do not put the zip code on a separate line.
• List creditor first names first, last names last, without titles (Mr., Mrs., Ms., etc.).
• You must leave at least two blank lines between creditors.
• Do not use more than forty characters on a line. Each line can contain up to forty characters, counting all letters, numbers, punctuation and spaces.
• Use ALL CAPS. Do not use both Upper and Lowercase letters.
• Do not use punctuation marks, such as commas, periods and colons, in the address.
• Do not use the letter l as a substitute for the number 1.
• Do not use % as a substitute for c/o.
• Do not use \ as a substitute for /.
• Do not use +, use either and or the & symbol.
• Do not use ~ as a substitute for -.
• Do not use [ ] as a substitute for ( ).
• Do not put any information on the matrix such as a heading, a date, lines, page numbers, etc.
• Do not include the names of the debtor, joint debtors, attorney for debtor, U.S. Trustee or case trustees on the matrix.

An example of a properly prepared creditor address appears below:

XYZ COMPANY
ATTN JOHN SMITH
123 ELM STREET
PO BOX 789
ANYTOWN IN 12345-6789


Saving the Matrix to Diskette

After typing the information as described herein, you must save it in ASCII text format on a diskette.

• Save the file in ASCII format in a file called matrix.txt. You must not name this file anything other than matrix.txt or the clerk's office cannot process your matrix. Do not use the case number, debtor name or another file name!
• Copy the file to a 3 ˝" high-density diskette. You must format this diskette using DOS version 2.1 or higher.
• Attach a removable diskette label to the disk. Note the case name and file this diskette with the petition on the diskette label.

Include only ONE case on each diskette. Only one matrix.txt file can be processed from a single diskette.

If you have any questions about submitting a matrix on a diskette, please contact our Director of Technology at (574) 968-2240 and we will assist you.

Christopher M. DeToro, Clerk
United States Bankruptcy Court
Northern District of Indiana

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