What does the trustee physically see when you file ch 7

[5sracing]

When filing chapter 7, does the trustee physically get to see your pay stubs, bills, statements,etc?

[AngelinaCat]

Usually that is the case. If an attorney is working on your behalf, then he/she will provide the paperwork required. You, of course, will have to provide the paperwork that the attorney requests. If you are doing it yourself, i.e. filing pro se, then you will be following the requirements of the local rules of your BK Court. Anything that the trustee may want to see, you will be notified of.

If the unasked question is, "will the trustee come to my home and look at my stuff?" The answer is "usually no". There are some instances, though rare, where a trustee may ask for an independent appraisal of a property, or may wish to see, or have someone appraise some various pieces of personal property. But again, this happens rarely.

Good luck to you!

[tcreegan]

trustee documents

Hello 5sracing,

I suspect that different trustees focus on different documents, but they have access to everything filed for your case. If not filed w/ the case, the trustee gets the last two years of your tax returns (federal rule) and any other documents they request. Our trustee had our case file with him at the 341 hearing but he had his own form with items from various places in the documents already filed. He looked his form over and any questions were from his form; so I think he only gave the case file a cursory glance. Makes more sense when his office said he was month behind in his paperwork! But....every trustee is different....hope you get someone reasonable and easy to deal with !!

Tom in Colo