The Purpose of Panel Trustees Louisville, Kentucky in Bankruptcy
There are two very different Trustees in every bankruptcy case. The trustee is the only Panel Trustee in Louisville Kentucky and Western District that you will typically see during your case. The Chapter 7 panel trustee will conduct your 341 hearing and makes a report to the district court in Western District and bankruptcy court Southern District that there are no assets available for the creditors.
A panel trustees report will also usually include that your income is not enough to allow a Chapter 13 payment. If there are assets available for the benefit of creditors, he will report that to the creditors so they can file a claim.
The US Trustee is very different. He is also responsible for auditing each case to ensure the petition is accurate and that the debtors are honestly reporting assets. While the Panel Trustees are auditing the debtor, the US Trustee sometimes audits how the attorney has prepared a case.
A lawyer will typically just amend the petition if the US Trustee auditor finds errors that the attorney should have caught. An amendment is often necessary when answers are unclear. The United States Trustee can but rarely appears at the 341 meeting of creditors to ask questions. Often these errors are minor and do not affect your case, and the petition merely needs to be more precise and transparent.
The Chapter 7 Bankruptcy Trustee and the Bankruptcy Estate
The bankruptcy estate is all of the property of the debtor in the bankruptcy court Southern District. We can have an ownership interest in the property we do not yet possess. For instance, an inheritance or winning lottery ticket may not have been considered an asset when you drafted your petition. Yet it is a property you have or will have to repay your creditors.
These assets are part of the estate. The estate consists of property that may not exist yet, such as an inheritance from someone living at the time of filing but who died within six months after the case was discharged. The funds from a personal injury lawsuit are also part of the estate. These assets are all items that could be used to repay creditors. You often keep the property because exemptions allow you to keep property necessary for your fresh start.
The Duties of the Chapter 7 Bankruptcy Trustee
The Chapter 7 Trustee is usually an attorney or CPA who represents all of the creditors by building a good attorney-client relationship. Over 90% of the time, there will be no assets available for distribution in a Chapter 7 case. The Chapter 7 panel trustee is paid about 75 dollars for each case he reviews in the Chapter 7 case.
Within a 30-minute time, he will review 6 or 7 small cases on the docket asking standard questions about the property, transfers of property, income, and expenses. These questions are in more detail on another page about the 341 meeting of creditors questions.
Chapter 7 panel Trustees rarely distribute property unless the debtor lies and fails to disclose property. If you have a plane or second home in California, please tell your attorney. If you don’t and it is paid for, you will probably lose it.
The Panel Trustees research for transfers of property you try to get out of your name. Transfers to another person as a gift or at some unreasonable price will be taken as a fraudulent or preferential transfer.
The worst situation happens when you could have kept the property using an exemption. If you give property away, you can’t use an exemption. You have to own the property you are exempting to use an exemption.
The Trustee Questions
A Trustee’s questions are often to test to see if you could have filed as a Chapter 13. It is primarily the duty of the US Trustee to audit and ensures people are in Chapter 13 if they have enough income to make a reasonable payment to their creditors from their incomes. It is also necessary for a good attorney-client relationship.
This often requires the debtors to use a little belt-tightening. You can have a reasonable car and keep it to go to and from work. You cannot have an unreasonable car like a 300,000-dollar Ferrari, which is paid for.
If the debtor gets a promotion the month after filing for a 200,000 per year job, he will probably be required to convert his Chapter 7 case to a Chapter 13 and repay creditors. He may have qualified when filing for a Chapter 7, but the trustees are allowed to look forward to what his income will be.
Transfers of property are always a possible problem when the debtor does not receive back an asset of about equal value. Giving a valuable gift even to a parent or wife will often mean the loss of that asset will not attempt to take a 600-dollar auto.
Some transfers are too small to recover profitably. But give the wife 25,000 in cash or sign over a home, and you have instant problems. The trustee also keeps about 25% of anything he can recover. Just because it belongs to a widow and four orphans does not mean he won’t take it.
The Bankruptcy Questionnaire or Intake
Our bankruptcy section intake or questionnaire is designed to uncover assets. All of the questions your attorney asks are designed to ensure we don’t miss assets and transfers that we can often fix before the case is filed. Our intakes and questionnaires won’t prevent someone from lying.
But there are always often enough angry creditors, ex-wives, relatives, former employees, and competitors who know your assets and secrets. The questions you can expect the trustee to ask are on another page. You may want to review these questions before your 341 hearing.
Some of the 341 meetings can be interesting as these people suddenly appear from nowhere unexpectedly and start to advise the trustee how you gave them a new car just before filing from your secret stash of cash, and now you want the auto back.
Yes, that happened to a client who purchased a new car for a young lady just before filing and contacting me. From the money, he claimed he didn’t have. It is best to fill out the questionnaire honestly to prevent this.
The Purpose of the Chapter 13 Bankruptcy Trustee
A Chapter 13 trustee has different duties than a Chapter 7 trustee or a trustee for a chapter 11 bankruptcy case. It is very rare for a Chapter 13 trustee to sell a property you don’t want to be sold. If you file a Chapter 13 case according to the Bankruptcy Code, you can always dismiss the case.
Payments of the plan are voluntary, and the plan is more like a contract between you and your creditors where they have their debts discharged, and you are required to do your best to repay over a three or 5-year payment period.
Unlike chapter 11 trustee, the primary duty of a trustee 13 is to distribute your payments to the creditors. If you don’t file bankruptcy, the first creditor who sues tends to get paid. The last person who sues is left with less or nothing. The bankruptcy system allows the creditors to orderly and equally share if there are any assets.
Chapter 13 Self-Employment Questionnaire
Every bankruptcy district is very similar in how they run courts including the bankruptcy court, Western District. However, the local rules about procedures may vary. If you are self-employed in the Western District of Kentucky, our Ch. 13 trustee will send you a self-employment questionnaire to determine your self-employment income more accurately about bankruptcy legal services such as business and consumer cases including small cases as well.
You will also be required to turn in an annual budget and turn over your tax refund if your case repays less than 100% to creditors. At the end of the case, there is a one-page form in a Chapter 13 case to obtain the discharge. It is applicable to both large and small cases.
The discharge in Chapter 7 of the Bankruptcy Code is automatic. But both Chapters 7 and 13 require you to take the debtor education class at Indiana University Kelley School in the Southern District of Indiana after failing to obtain the discharge.
Below is the contact information for the trustees (Stephen Reisz and many others) in Panel Trustees Bankruptcy Court, Western District. First, you must understand that the job of a panel trustee is to ensure the accuracy of a petition and to collect any asset that is available for the benefit of creditors. However, exemptions allow you to keep property necessary for a fresh start after the bankruptcy and commercial litigation of business and consumer cases, including large and small cases. Of course, the Trustee is paid a commission for any asset he may be able to take. Interestingly, this commission starts at 25% and decreases on a sliding scale.
Panel Trustees for Chapter 7 in the Eastern District of Kentucky
Trustee Robert W. Keats
- P.O. Box 221377 Louisville, KY 40252
- Office: (502) 587-8787
- Fax: (502) 425-9104
- Email: rkeats@bellsouth.net
Trustee Wm. Stephen Reisz
- 500 W. Jefferson Street, Suite 2450 Louisville, KY 40202
- Office: (502) 569-7550
- Fax: (502) 561-0025
- Email: wsreisz@hotmail.com
Trustee Michael E. Wheatley
- 2 Anchorage Pointe Louisville, KY 40223
- Office: (502) 744-6484
- Fax: NA
- Email: mwheatley@insightbb.com
Trustee William W. Lawrence (Ch 7)
- 200 S. Seventh Street, Ste. 300 Louisville, KY 40202
- Office: (502) 583-4484 (7)
- Fax: not available
- Email: wlch7ecf@gmail.com
Louisville Kentucky Panel Trustees for Chapter 13 in Louisville Ky 40202
Trustee William Lawrence Chapter 13 Trustee
- 200 S. Seventh Street, Ste. 310 Louisville, KY 40202
- Office: (502) 581-9042 (13)
- Fax: not available
- Email: ECF@louchapter13.com (13)
The Assistant U. S. Trustees Office
- 512 Gene Snyder Courthouse 601 West Broadway Louisville, KY 4020
- Office: (502) 582-6000
- Fax: (502) 582-6147
- Email: ustpregion08.lo.ecf@usdoj.gov
Having the best Trustee practice, Joe Golden has retired along with Judge Stosberg. May they both enjoy their retirements after their long years of service. Tap here for the questions asked by the Trustees at your hearing.
Do You Have More Questions About The Bankruptcy Trustee, Contact Us Now!
This process of dealing with the trustees and filing is complex. Over half of the attorneys who filed bankruptcy and commercial litigation cases before 2005 quit when the rules changed in 2005 in the Western District of Kentucky as per the instructions of the Kentucky Bar Association. It has not gotten easier. You should not go through this with an attorney who forgets you when the case is filed. Contact us! We are here for you with the best trustee practice if you need us to know the FAQs after the case is filed. By talking to any of our members, you can get the best attorney-client relationship by offering bankruptcy legal services.
Resources for Bankruptcy
Louisville, Kentucky Bankruptcy Forms
Chapter 7 or 13 Bankruptcy Trustees and the 341 Hearing • Video
Filing Chapter 7 & Chapter 13 Bankruptcy • Video
Trustee Questions at the Bankruptcy 341 Meeting • Video
Western Kentucky Chapter 13 Bankruptcy Rules
If you are thinking about filing bankruptcy, don’t delay because timing is crucial. I am here to help you. So, contact my office right away to start the conversation. Nick C. Thompson, Bankruptcy Lawyer: 502-625-0905
