The United States Trustee is the federal official charged with enforcing civil bankruptcy laws in the U.S.A. The U.S. Trustee does not have prosecution powers, but refers information regarding potential criminal violations of bankruptcy laws to the United States Attorney.

The Office of the U.S. Trustee is part of the United States Department of Justice. There are twenty-one Regional U.S. Trustees with offices located in each judicial district, except for Alabama and North Carolina, which, for reasons that are somewhat obscure, are not administered by the U.S. Trustee program.

Interim trustees serve by the U.S. Trustee's appointment in Chapter 7 cases. Generally the interim trustee is assigned at random from a "panel" of qualified individuals at the time a bankruptcy case is filed, and is automatically appointed as the "permanent" case trustee after the first meeting of creditors.

Due to the relative infrequency of filing of petitions for Chapter 12 (family farmer debt adjustment) relief, trustees for these cases are appointed on an ad hoc basis.

Each judicial district has one or more Standing Chapter 13 Trustees. A Standing Trustee is responsible for the administration of all Chapter 13 cases filed in his or her judicial district.

If for any reason all panel and/or standing trustees are disqualified or unable to perform, the U.S. Trustee may serve as trustee for a particular case under Chapter 7, 12 or 13. This very rarely happens.

The U.S. Trustee's office conducts the first meeting of creditors in a Chapter 11 case. Most Chapter 11's do not require the appointment of a trustee: however, in those cases which do, the U.S. Trustee oversees the appointed trustee's handling of the case and, for good cause, can seek the removal or replacement of the trustee. Along with the creditors committees, the U.S. Trustee acts as the primary "watchdog" to ensure compliance with the Bankruptcy Code in cases where no trustee has been appointed.

Accounting staffers within the Trustee's office review all debtor filings, and monitor trustee and attorney fees in all cases. Attorneys employed by the Trustee represent the office in United States bankruptcy court and pursue civil sanctions for some egregious violations of the law in Chapter 7, 12 and 13 cases.

External links

United States Trustee Program home page