What is a bankruptcy trustee and what is their role in the bankruptcy process?

A bankruptcy Trustee is a court appointed officer who is in charge of administering a bankruptcy estate. A Trustee is not a judge. A Trustee has different duties, which depend on whether the case is a Chapter 7 or Chapter 13 bankruptcy.

The role of the Trustee in a Chapter 7 case is to determine whether there is any property available to be liquidated. If there is property, the Trustee will liquidate this non-exempt property and create income to distribute to the creditors. The creditors are notified and given a certain amount of time to file evidence of the debt that they are owed. If a creditor fails to timely file, they will not get paid and the debt will be eliminated.

In a Chapter 13 case, the Trustee follows the repayment plan that has been approved to repay a certain percentage of the debt owed to the creditors. The Trustee follows the plan and administers the plan according to its terms. The Trustees job is complete once all the payments have been made according to the plan and the Trustee has administered the payments to the creditors according to the plan.