Trustee information

[Lajazz947]

Questions:

Will out attorney know who our trustee is prior to the 341?

Is there any public information available on his/her track record as there are on arbitrators? i.e positions they have taken in the past relative to specific situations.

Can we object to the appointment of a specific trustee?

Just trying to arm myself with knowledge here.

Thanks

[AngelinaCat]

Our attorney knows the several trustees that are in our district, but could not say which one would be chosen for our case. It may be a type of lottery, or whatever caseload a particular trustee has at the time. Our attorney did say that there were 'good ones' and others that 'aren't so good'. She said that we got one of the 'good ones'.

Whether or not you can object to a certain trustee, I don't know. Some of the other members will have to weigh in on that.

Good luck.

[JRScott]

Usually on the day the petition is filed the court will assign a trustee.

It is done by lottery I think, though of course a trustee whom you know or your lawyer knows personally will recuse themselves from the case. (Conflict of interest and such).

You can find the information on PACER usually , but the mailing you get the week after filing will have their name and address on it.

[AngelinaCat]

To add to the above, we had a 'pre-counsel' with the trustee's office assistant the week before our actual 341. This was done by telephone and the assistant basically asked most of the questions that we would be asked at the 341. It was like a dress rehearsal. At that point our attorney knew who had been assigned to our case, and said we had a 'good one.'

[danaf]

I knew my trustee and the day of my 341 the day I filed. Your attorney should tell you but I think you can also call the bk court, give them your filing number and they can tell you.

You do not have the option of choosing a different trustee. Like JR said, it's done by lottery. And can you imagine all the changes people would request if they gave people this option?

When I filed, my trustee sent me a list of things she wanted me to send her before the 341. 3 years tax returns including 07', car titles & mileage & proof of insurance, bank statements, pay stubs, copies of 401ks/IRAs. It was a pretty thorough list. Alot of it didn't pertain to me though ie copies of divorce decrees, deeds to real estate, copies of stock & bonds, market appraisels of real estate, copies of trust agreements, pending lawsuits, back-up for withdrawls of 600 or more. Mine is a simple ch 7 no asset. Alot of the info my trustee asked for, I needed anyway for the statement of financial affairs. And having the tax returns really helped a lot because who can remember all the details from year to year?

Learning pacer is useful but I'm not sure that a request from the trustee for all of the above would be posted in pacer. Also, in my district you can give them your email address and every time something is updated in pacer, they email you a copy of it which is beneficial because pacer fees can add up. In terms of trustees track records - most bk courts have terminals which offer pacer for free. You could always go and do research on your own. But why bother with this aspect? You cannot change trustees so no point in worrying about this. Instead, just make sure your petition is as thorough as possible. I used my court's free pacer to do free research on how various attorney's filled out the petitions. It helped my confidence level when I filled out my own petition.

I've read on here various people whose attorney didn't relay information in a timely manner. Help! comes to mind. I think that sucks big time! You pay an attorney so much money and they drop the ball. I would have hired an attorney if I could have found one I liked & trusted. It's very smart to try to arm yourself with as much info as possible. I think that even people who have attorneys should own their own bk rather than leaving it entirely in the hands of an attorney. Yes - a good attorney is worth his/her weight in gold (especially for complicated cases) but still - bk is way too big a deal in my opinion not to own it. And how do you know how good or bad your attorney is until it's done? kwim?