The Role of the Chapter 7 Panel Trustee.

The U.S. trustee must be distinguished from a Chapter 7 panel trustee. This chapter focuses on the Chapter 7 panel trustee.

The U.S. trustee in each district has assembled a pool of private people to act as Chapter 7 trustees. These people are typically attorneys. These people are generally experienced bankruptcy practitioners that maintain both a private practice representing bankruptcy clients (debtors and creditors) and a quasi-governmental practice representing bankruptcy estates as Chapter 7 panel trustees. The panel trustees are compensated by a statutory fee per case plus additional fees for liquidating “asset” cases.

The U.S. trustee appoints an impartial Chapter 7 panel trustee to administer each bankruptcy case promptly after the bankruptcy petition is filed with the clerk of the court. 11 U.S.C. § 701. The appointment is performed randomly in each case by the computer system maintained by the clerk of the court.

Attorney Bob Schaller

Bankruptcy/Tax Attorney & Registered CPA

Bob has practiced law for more than 35 years and filed more than 3,000 bankruptcy cases. He has argued bankruptcy cases before the U.S. Court of Appeals, U.S. District Court, and U.S. Bankruptcy Court. He has authored 22 books including the 6-volume "Bankruptcy MasterClass Practice System & Toolkit."