About Us

• This Internet site is provided as a public service to the community served by the Standing Trustee of San Fernando Valley and the Northern Division.
• Chapter 13 is a section of the Bankruptcy Code which helps qualified individuals (or small proprietary business owners) who desire to repay their creditors but are in financial difficulty.
• Chapter 13 protects individuals from the collection efforts of creditors; permits individuals to keep their real estate and personal property; establish a plan to repay their debts through reduced payments.
• During the period of the plan the individual is called a “debtor”. The size of the plan payments are determined by the amount the debtor can afford after paying necessary living expenses.

Trustee Pledge of Excellence

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.

1. The trustee’s office should be open and operating Monday through Friday during regular business hours.
2. The trustee should have a system in place to promptly respond in a meaningful manner to inquiries from debtors, creditors, attorneys, and other interested parties.
3. If the trustee is not personally available, the trustee should have competent staff available to assist or to respond to inquiries.
4. The trustee should work to ensure that debtors comply with their obligations under the Bankruptcy Code and Rules.
5. The trustee should work to ensure that debtors comply with the provisions of their plan, take appropriate action if payments are not begun within thirty (30) days after the plan is filed, monitor any subsequent delinquencies in plan performance and take appropriate action to address the problem.
6. 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.
7. The trustee should have a system to timely and accurately record all receipts and disbursements on the appropriate debtor ledger.
8. 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.
9. 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.
10. 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.