In Re: Order Amending Rule 3136 of the Pennsylvania Rules of Civil Procedure

Explanatory Comment Current Rule 3136 provides for the sheriff to prepare a schedule of proposed distribution of proceeds (schedule) no later than thirty days after a sale of real property or five days after the sale of personal property. The sheriff is required to keep the schedule on file so that it is available for inspection in the sheriff’s office. The parties in interest (parties) then have ten days to file exceptions to the schedule. The rule, however, does not require the sheriff to serve or notify the parties that a schedule has been prepared. As a result, the parties must monitor the sheriff’s office on a daily basis to acquire the schedule in order to have the full ten days with which to prepare and file the exceptions. Instead of keeping the schedule on file in the sheriff’s office, the proposed amendment would require the sheriff to file the schedule with the prothonotary and is intended to give the practitioner the ability to consult the docket, which in some counties can be done electronically. By the Civil Procedural Rules Committee Peter J. Hoffman Chair