Information - Office of the Chapter 13 Standing Trustee

Office of the Chapter 13 Standing Trustee - Detroit

Trustee Fee Change Alert
[July 9, 2010]

The Trustee Fee for FY 2011 has not yet been set by the United States Trustee but we anticipate that it will increase.

Please consider calculating cases with an 8% fee to account for any future increases in fees.

Debtor Orientation
[June 7, 2010]

As we near the one year anniversary of the Debtor Orientation Program we would like to take an opportunity to examine the classes and fine tune the program. To date we have received very positive feedback. We have also seen a positive impact on cases at confirmation since the program started. However, we believe that there is always room for improvement.

Debtor Orientation classes are conducted at the start of each hour of scheduled Meetings and last about 50 minutes. The purpose of the Orientation is to help debtors better understand the Chapter 13 process (not to provide legal advice). It consists of a PowerPoint presentation followed by Q & A. We also make the slide presentation available as a handout to the debtors.

We encourage your feedback on the program. Please send comments to comments@det13.com.

Please let us know how you think we could improve the program, or if you think some aspect of the program is particularly strong. We're interested in all comments and feedback.

Now Hiring
[May 28, 2010]

Employment opportunities are available at the Office of David Ruskin, Ch 13 Trustee. Please visit the Employment Opportunities link on the Information page of this website for details.

IRS guide to Form 2848
[April 7, 2010]

The IRS has a pamphlet detailing how to complete Form 2848, along with a checklist of common problems.

A PDF copy of the pamphlet can be found HERE.

IRS Form 2848 with Interactive Form Fields
[April 6, 2010]

The IRS Form 2848 available on our website now has built in form fields that will allow you to tab through and fill out the information in the required fields.

The form is available HERE

Please note that the debtor(s) must initial Section 6. There is no form field there because it must be written initials, not typed.

Office Restructuring
[March 31, 2010]

Effective April 1, 2010, the Case Analyst department will be restructured. There will no longer be a split between Pre and Post Confirmation duties.

Please download a copy of our Who Does What and distribute it in your office.

IRS Form 2848 - Power of Attorney
[March 25, 2010]

On March 12, 2010, the Judges of the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of Michigan issued a Notice that in all Chapter 13 cases where the Plan has not yet been confirmed and in which the Plan provides for payment of tax refunds to the Trustee, the debtor shall sign, as requested by the Trustee, IRS forms to authorize the IRS to forward those tax refunds directly to the Trustee.

A sample completed IRS Form 2848 can be found HERE, as well as in the Forms section of the Library page of this website.

The Chapter 13 Trustees have discussed this requirement and have adopted a processes to implement this new Notice.

Details of this process can be found HERE. This document is also listed in the forms section of the Library page of this website.

District Court IRS Opinion
[January 28, 2010]

The recent District Court opinion regarding the requirement for the IRS to send refunds directly to the Trustees is available on the Library page of this website.

ACH Document Deadlines
[December 3, 2009]

The ACH withdraw dates and due dates for ACH documents is now available on the ACH Information page of this website. Please be aware of these dates as you process cases that will use ACH.

New Adequate Protection Form
[October 22, 2009]

A form order for Post-Petition Adequate Protection Payments is now available in the Forms section of the Library of this web site.

Common Addresses
[September 21, 2009]

We have compiled a list of commonly used addresses for creditors and creditor attorneys. The information was based upon requests from creditors, proofs of claim filed with the court and notices of appearance. While we understand that BAPCPA imposes certain requirements on the addresses to be used, we thought that this information would be helpful.

The list can be found on the Information Page of this website.

Mortgages and Best Practices
[July 28, 2009]

To assist the debtor and creditor bar in complying with the legal requirements for filing POCs, the National Association of Ch 13 Trustees and mortgage servicers and their counsel have worked together to produce a set of best practices for both creditors and trustees.

The document can be found HERE in PDF format.

Order Formatting
[July 27, 2007]

It has come to our attention that some orders have been rejected by the Court for failure to comply with ECF Administrative Procedure (7)(i):

(7)(i) Format of Orders. Proposed orders should be in a basic text format. The following shall not be a part of a Proposed Order: party or attorney signatures; textboxes; saved as “read-only”; linked fields; attached templates; add-ons; lines at the end of the final paragraph; and signature block for judge. Six single spaced lines must be left at the end for the Court to insert the judge’s signature block and date stamp. If necessary, the last page should be broken up so that the signature block and date stamp does not become appended to an additional page. (NOTE: The best method to determine where the signature block and date stamp will be inserted is to hold down the ctrl key and press the end key. This will place the cursor at the insertion point.) [emphasis added]

Please review your order drafting process and make sure that you are leaving enough space on single page orders for the insertion of the judge's stamp. If you cannot fit enough space on a single page document then split the order into two pages to create space. It appears that the Court's concern is related to the signature being "orphaned" on a second page by itself.

Refer to ECF Rules for the full Administrative Procedures for ECF.

Revised OCP Submission Process
[February 15, 2007]

Click HERE for a information on how to comply with the Court's "Notice Regarding Procedures for Chapter 13 Confirmation Hearings Held On Or After December 11, 2006" for cases assigned to David Ruskin.

Note that this procedure applies only to cases assigned to this office. Please visit the web sites of the other Trustees for information on their practices.

OCP Formatting
[February 1, 2007]

The Court has asked that all offices refrain from submitting Orders Confirming Plan with text boxes and other complex formatting in the signature portion of the document. These objects cause processing problems for the Court. The Court has begun rejecting orders that cannot be processed by their system.

A revised version of the OCP is available on the Forms page, found in the Libary link, on our web site. This form has not been certified by the Court as functional but it does not have any objects in the signature portion of the document.

Slightly different versions are available in Word & Word Perfect format on the Court's web site HERE.

We ask that everyone please review your OCP documents and make any revisions required.
Orders that are returned to us by the Court will be returned to the originating office for correction.

New OCP Submission Process
[December 5, 2006]

Click HERE for a information on how to comply with the Court's new "Notice Regarding Procedures for Chapter 13 Confirmation Hearings Held On Or After December 11, 2006" for cases assigned to David Ruskin.

Note that this procedure applies only to cases assigned to this office. Please visit the web sites of the other Trustees for information on their practices.

Income Verification Documents
[December 4, 2006]

Please do not send tax returns, pay stubs and other income verification documents to anyone but the paralegal assigned to the case. Failure to send the documents to a paralegal can result in delays in processing the information and could result in the 341 being adjourned.

Please see our Who Does What for a directory of paralegal staff.

Service of pleadings in Converted Cases
[November 29, 2006]

Please be sure to review the Court's listing of parties served when filing a Chapter 13 related document in a case that has converted to another chapter. The Court removes the Chapter 13 Trustee as an active party in the case upon conversion. Trustees do not receive emails from ECF or the BNC, nor does the information appear on a case activity report.

If you do not see the Chapter 13 Trustee listed as a party served on the Notice of Electronic Filing or on the Court's matrix listing then you need to make sure you serve the Trustee via paper.

Joint ECF Announcement
[August 4, 2006]

The Standing Chapter 13 Trustees for the Eastern District of Michigan have issued a joint memo regarding service of documents per LBR 9013-3 and ECF Procedure 4(e). The memo can be found HERE in PDF format.

Reminder of Documents Required for 341
[December 15, 2005]

As announced in October of 2003, effective with cases filed on or after January 1, 2004, the offices of David Ruskin, Krispen Carroll and Tammy Terry will be requiring tax returns and pay stubs to be provided to the Trustees before the Meeting of Creditors.

The full policy can be found HERE in PDF format.

Policy Regarding Fee Applications
[October 7, 2003]

The offices of Tammy Terry, Krispen Carroll and David Ruskin have agreed to a standardized policy for dealing with fee applications in dispositive orders.

This policy can be found HERE in PDF format.

Documents Required for 341
[October 7, 2003]

Effective with cases filed on or after January 1, 2004, the offices of David Ruskin, Krispen Carroll and Tammy Terry will be requiring tax returns and pay stubs to be provided to the Trustees before the Meeting of Creditors.

This policy can be found HERE in PDF format.