Hey Debtors,

Today we're on our fourth episode, still experimenting with audio and whatnot. In today's episode we're going to talk some more about the trustee, the experience of talking to the trustee at a 341 meeting, who they are, and what their role is.

In today's episode, we talk about one Redditor's experience with a "jerk" trustee. He or she said:

The Trustee was a total jerk, I had joined the call about 10 minutes before mine was scheduled. The trustee was speaking to other people with so much hostility. When they were finished, I believe there was someone else that was supposed to join at the same time my call was scheduled. But I was unsure if they were referring to me due to a misunderstanding. So when I unmuted my phone to offer assistance, he barked at me.

Hey look, this is just one stop on your way to success, so don't get too hung up on it. Some of the trustees are, shall we say, a little cold and maybe a little grumpy. But they aren't there to pass judgment on you or your bankruptcy case.

That said, I get it.

They can feel like jerks, however, I get it. This is the first "official" who's really looked at your case other than your lawyer. And you have to go to this meeting where all your financials are just laid out bare before the world. Maybe you feel a little guilty. Maybe you feel like this person is judging you. You're going to be paying a lot of attention to their body language, vocal tone, etc.

They aren't actually judging you, however.

Let's talk about their role for a second. The Chapter 7 trustee isn't there to think about whether you should or should not have filed. They aren't there to judge your situation.

They are there to see if there are any assets they can "administer," which is to say, liquidate and give money to creditors. But, as I explain in the episode, there are a lot of financial hurdles that have to be crossed to get to that point: your exemptions, your secured creditors, the fees and costs of selling assets, their own fee, and the money that has to go to creditors.

The trustee only gets a small, nominal fee per case unless they can find some assets that can cross those financial hurdles. This is why they call most cases "no asset" cases. It means there's nothing the trustee could find to give to creditors.

So of course they might get a little grumpy from time to time. But that's not about you. It's about your assets, or a lack thereof.

The meeting usually only lasts a few minutes. Just do it, and stay focused on your long term success. If they behave badly, that says more about them than it does about you anyway.

To your future success!