Information On Bankruptcy Attorney
Filing for bankruptcy is a life-altering decision that requires careful consideration and weighing of all options. While once thought of as a taboo, now the practice is much more commonplace. A record-breaking two million Americans filed for bankruptcy last year.
If you decide to file for bankruptcy, you’ll want to have some idea about bankruptcy court, bankruptcy court procedures, who you’ll be interacting with, such as the bankruptcy lawyer and the trustee and what function each of them plays in the entire bankruptcy process. As bankruptcy law changes are plentiful, you will want to seek out the best resources to be well informed.
Regardless of whether you file Chapter 7 Bankruptcy or Chapter 13 Bankruptcy, your case will be assigned a trustee. The trustee is the court appointed representative of the Bankruptcy Estate who evaluates all your assets and administers the debtors bankruptcy estate.
Chapter 7 and Chapter 13 bankruptcy trustees are appointed by United States trustees. While United States trustees are government employees, Chapter 7 and 13 trustees are usually lawyers and accountants. Note that the trustee assigned to your case represents your creditors (not you) and is looking out for their best interests.
Trustees appointed to a Chapter 7 bankruptcy case usually have a more limited role than they do in Chapter 13 cases. First, your Chapter 7 trustee will attend creditors’ meetings and ensure everything is going smoothly with your case. This meeting is informally called a “341 meeting” because section 341 of the Bankruptcy Code requires that the debtor attend this meeting so that creditors can question the debtor about debts and property.
A Chapter 7 Bankruptcy trustee will review your list of assets (if you have any) to determine what assets are exempt from the bankruptcy procedure. If you have non-exempt assets, your trustee will supervise the process of selling them and distributing the proceeds equally among your creditors according to the scheme of priorities in the Bankruptcy Code (these establish in which order debts must be repaid). The trustee also looks for deception or abuse either by the debtor or the creditors. In some cases, he may have parts of the claims dismissed.
A Chapter 13 Bankruptcy Trustee is also responsible for reviewing your repayment plan and ensuring you have no difficulties following that plan. You will send each month’s payment to him and he will distribute the funds among your creditors. Unlike with Chapter 7 bankruptcy, you can usually keep your assets in Chapter 13 since you’ll be repaying your debts either in full or part.
At the end of the day, it’s important to keep in mind that the bankruptcy trustee wants to recoup as much money as possible for the creditors. Trustees who work on Chapter 13 bankruptcies earn a percentage of the money collected during the case.
Your Bankruptcy lawyer should be able to answer any questions and address any concerns you may have about the bankruptcy trustee as well as working with the trustee and going through the entire process of filing for bankruptcy.
