Trustee’s Pledge
- Standing Trustees are committed to excellence and to
providing a high level of trust and service to chapter
13 debtors and creditors. Creditors, debtors, attorneys,
judges and others who come into contact with Standing
Trustees are entitled to service which adheres to the
highest standards of professional, moral and ethical
conduct.
- The trustee's office should be open and operating
Monday through Friday during regular business hours.
- The trustee should have a system in place to
promptly respond in a meaningful manner to inquiries
from debtors, creditors, attorneys, and all interested
parties.
- If the trustee is not personally available, the
trustee should have competent staff available to assist
or to respond to inquiries.
- The trustee should work to ensure that debtors
comply with their obligations under the Bankruptcy Code
and Rules.
- The trustee should work to ensure that debtors
comply with the provisions of their plan and should take
appropriate action if the debtor fails to commence plan
payments when required or if there is a subsequent
default in plan performance.
- The trustee should maintain a system which
efficiently tracks the progress and the receipts and
disbursements in every chapter 13 case, from the time it
is filed until the case is closed.
- The trustee should have a system to timely and
accurately record all receipts and disbursements on the
appropriate debtor ledger.
- The trustee should disburse plan payments to
creditors on a monthly basis, and should have procedures
in place to properly classify and pay creditors' claims
and to detect and recover any erroneous payments.
- The trustee should ensure that all trust account
ledgers and accounts are balanced on a monthly basis and
should have a procedure to regularly review all cases
with significantly large balances on hand or other fund
irregularities.
- The trustee should maintain a reasonably
comprehensive system of internal controls over
accounting and office operations, both paper and
electronic, to safeguard estate assets and trust funds.