??s about Trustees

[Needing Help]

In your experiences... generally speaking, are they nice people, or are they very cold and calice? Do they ever show sympathy for your situation?

Do they ever visit (audit) you at home?

[whywhywhy]

I think the feedback you’ll get with this will be from both ends, since they vary all the time, from place to place, day to day. You might catch a good one on a bad day or vice versa. They don't visit your home.

Mine was nice. The 341 was painless and really quick.

[BearChaser303]

My 341 was today and was also painless and quick. My attorney told me that my trustee is very good to work with but some are very very difficult.

[doglover]

Mine was very nice at the 341. He really seemed to care if our payments were feesable(sp?) for us. I haven't heard of a Trustee doing an audit but then again I've only been in mine for 4-5 months now.

[$$only4ever]

I have been in a chapter 13 for almost 3 years. We were confirmed with a payment amount that was very fair. He did not want our tax refund and did not make us decrease our 401k contribution.Other than the semi-annual statements that are sent to us, we haven't heard a peep from the trustee. Of course, we make sure that we make our payments on time every month.

[Cassiopeia]

I would describe my trustee as very "professional"....I found her to be neither cold/callous nor particularly "nice." Just a completely professional person. Don't know how else to describe her. I certainly didn't get any warm fuzzy feelings from her but on the other hand she wasn't nasty at all either.

[yoyoma51]

Our trustee spent the first half of the 10 minute meeting talking about personal matters and joking with our attorney (as they are friends and our lawyer is also a trustee). This made us feel very comfortable. By the time he got to us with questions, we were all laughing.

As much as other people say the relationship between your lawyer and trustee shouldn't matter, IT DOES. Choose your lawyer wisely and things WILL go much smoother.

[butterflywings]

I don't think for one minute that a trustee would do something or NOT do something based on how much he likes a debtor's particular lawyer. To be as gentle as I can, I believe that line of thinking is silly.

When the trustee takes a debtor's paperwork back to his office and goes over it with the panel of trustees that he works with, in NO WAY is one's trustee going to say let's not investigate this person's BK because their lawyer is one swell guy, or hey I can't stand this debtor's lawyer, let's see what we can get on this debtor. LOL

I guarantee everyone here that your trustee won't remember you or the "laughs" you had at your 341 once he or she gets back to his or her office and gets to work on the pile of cases they have. People always seem to inflate the importance of their case to the trustee, but alas we are merely one among many.

And if any of you have worked in a professional atmosphere you can NEVER assume people like each other just because they smile or laugh as they talk. I have witnessed many many times in my day where managers would stand in the hall talking and another manager would stop by and they would laugh and talk for a moment and then he'd walk away and as soon as he did they would all roll their eyes and say what a di**head the guy was.

The lawyers and trustees all know each other and all work professionally together. They have no personal stake in any of our cases! Whether our cases are discharged, confirmed or dismissed they all go home at night no worse for it. This is all business to them, as it should be.

[epiphany]

I don't think for one minute that a trustee would do something or NOT do something based on how much he likes a debtor's particular lawyer. To be as gentle as I can, I believe that line of thinking is silly.

To be as gentle as I can, you are placing a lot of faith in the integrity of the trustee. I am certain that what you are saying is true in some cases and I am certain that what you are saying isn't always true. I imagine that the Lawyer/Trustee relationship can play a huge part in the outcome of a debtor's case.


When the trustee takes a debtor's paperwork back to his office and goes over it with the panel of trustees that he works with, in NO WAY is one's trustee going to say let's not investigate this person's BK because their lawyer is one swell guy, or hey I can't stand this debtor's lawyer, let's see what we can get on this debtor. LOL

No way? Not ever? I work in a very large corporation and I see the daily back scratching among people who do not like each other. I also see the back stabbing of people who seemingly get along. Often the little people (that would be us) get trampled just because they're there. Some people have motives that baffle the logical mind so I can see why you might assume what you are stating.

I guarantee everyone here that your trustee won't remember you or the "laughs" you had at your 341 once he or she gets back to his or her office and gets to work on the pile of cases they have. People always seem to inflate the importance of their case to the trustee, but alas we are merely one among many.

Pretty much agree that the trustee won't remember me or the laughs. But he might remember what he's done for the lawyer and visa versa.

And if any of you have worked in a professional atmosphere you can NEVER assume people like each other just because they smile or laugh as they talk. I have witnessed many many times in my day where managers would stand in the hall talking and another manager would stop by and they would laugh and talk for a moment and then he'd walk away and as soon as he did they would all roll their eyes and say what a di**head the guy was.

While people may have personal disdain for each other, it doesn't mean that they aren't going to work with each other to further their own agenda, whatever that may be.

The lawyers and trustees all know each other and all work professionally together. They have no personal stake in any of our cases! Whether our cases are discharged, confirmed or dismissed they all go home at night no worse for it. This is all business to them, as it should be.

Don't be so sure that they have no personal stake. They may have no personal stake in our little piddly one at a time cases, but I am quite sure that some of them have give and take relationships that far exceed our wildest imaginations.

Politics are everywhere.
EP

[Lindsay]

I think it definitely helps to have a lawyer that isn't despised by the trustee. I agree that alot of politics are involved. In a perfect world, everyone would always be professional and fair but I don't think that's always how it works in our world. I also think that with the sheer volume of bankruptcies (our lawyer told us that the trustees in our area schedule 15 of the 341 meetings each hour) that you'd have to do something pretty suspicious to have them give you a bad time or dismiss you. Our lawyer says that they like to look closely at bankruptcies where high income and high debts. I'm not sure why, maybe they think there must be some assets being hidden.

[DivorceRuinedMe]

Mine was very cold and callous and extremely professional. I can't fault her as she was just doing her job but she never once cracked a smile and she certainly didn't make any jokes.

[yoyoma51]

Right or wrong, just like most things in life, your bankruptcy can be about 'who you know'.

Bankruptcy can be easy, depending on who YOU know, who THEY know and how YOU plan.

Whether most people realize it or not, the bankruptcy system is just another bureaucracy with a lot of questionable people involved (although not all). Whether it is the trustee or your lawyer, it is MOSTLY about making a buck (the way trustees are paid prove this point).

[FreshLikeADaisy]

I was going to reply to butterflywings, but epiphany said it much better (and with far more class) than I could have. Ditto 100%. Sainthood is not part of the job description for trustees. If it so happens that they ARE a saint, well, bonus; but chances are they are fallible and susceptible to emotional knee jerk reactions just like all the rest of us.

[$$only4ever]

Everyone is forgetting one important function of the trustee. He works on behalf of the creditors and his job is to secure/seize as much as he can for them. The trustee is not your friend and you, the debtor is not his responsibility. With that being said, yes there are trustees that are more flexible and fair and then there are trustees who are very structured and unbending. I really think that it depends if you have a trustee who is "looking a the whole picture" or one is going grab anything that they can, and really does not care if you complete your plan or not. While I really have not had any problems with the trustee, I also make sure that my payments are made every month before they are due and stay wayyyyyyyyyy under his radar. In all honesty, I do not want him to know me or remember me.

That is why it is so important to have a good attorney. He/she is the one that is looking out for the debtor's best interest.

[imbroke2]

I can't believe so many of you meet your trustee in person. We only met with an employee of the trustee as he has so many cases. We are in a suburb of Chicago so maybe that has something to do with it. The person we met with was nice enough, but definitely all business. So I have no idea what the actual trustee is like. And even if we have an issue, we'll have to talk to some employee of the trustee, not himself personally.