NO.  To ensure fairness and equal treatment for all parties in a case, ethics rules specifically prohibit a judge from communicating directly to parties in a case outside of court, with a few limited exceptions.  If you want to speak or provide information about your case to the judge, you should NOT contact the judge directly.  You must file a legal document or motion with the clerk’s office and request a court hearing.  Note that you may be required to pay a filing fee.

If you attempt to contact the judge or the judge’s chambers by phone, letter, or email outside of a court hearing, the judge will NOT review or respond to your communication. Instead, the judge will forward your documents to the clerk’s office with instructions to return the documents to you.  This could result in important information about your case not being heard or not being placed into the official court record.  At times, the clerk’s office may file the documents publicly into the official court record, if the documents were mistakenly sent to the judge instead of the clerk’s office.  However, to ensure the court reviews important information about your case, you must file your documents or written request for a hearing before the judge with the clerk’s office so that the matter can be filed into the official court record.

Filing Fees are addressed in 28  USC §  1930 and the Bankruptcy Court Miscellaneous Fee Schedule.  You can access the filing fee schedule on the court's website here.

More information on fees for filing an individual chapter 7 or chapter 13 bankruptcy case can be found here.

Fees paid by an individual person (as opposed to an attorney) can be paid as follows:

Shreveport Divisional Office: Cash, money order, or cashier’s check only
Alexandria Divisional Office: Money order or cashier’s check only
Lafayette Divisional Office: Money order or cashier’s check only

Attorneys additionally may pay by check or by credit card through Pay.gov.