Chapter 7 Trustee Janet Meiburger

Janet Meiburger is one of the four Chapter 7 trustees in the Alexandria Virginia Bankruptcy court. When you file a bankruptcy case in Alexandria, the computer assigns you to one of the four trustees.

Lawyers are appointed Chapter 7 trustees as a part-time assignment.  Janet Meiburger has her own law firm in McLean, VA where she handles her own bankruptcy clients, plus business law, commercial law and civil litigation. She is the newest of the trustees here.

Chapter 7 Trustee, Janet Meiburger

As a Chapter 7 Trustee, she has two sets of bosses.  The US Justice Department, through the Office of the United States Trustee.  And the two Bankruptcy Judges here, Judge Brian F. Kenney and Judge Klinette H. Kindred.

We paid a $335.00 filing fee when we filed your bankruptcy case. Sixty dollars of that went to Trustee Meiburger.  Since her hourly rate is $450.00 an hour, that $60.00 would be her fee for eight minutes.  (A recent study suggested $120.00 for Chapter 7 trustees would be better.)

As your Chapter 7 Trustee, Janet Meiburger is in charge of your bankruptcy hearing, which is called the “meeting of creditors.” There are very, very rarely any creditors at the meeting of creditors.  So the Chapter 7 Trustee asks the questions. (Because the trustee is not a judge, she should be called “ma’am” not “your honor.”)

For now, bankruptcy hearings in Alexandria are by telephone. For the Janet Meiburger hearings, you should call (866) 652-2725 using the code 5661649.

The bankruptcy court computer schedules fourteen hearings an hour.  That’s just over four minutes per case.

Since she’s only been paid to spend a total of eight minutes on you, you might guess Janet Meiburger would rush through her cases.  But she doesn’t.  She is very thorough in her questions.

Every trustee is supposed to ask, “Did you sign the papers your lawyer sent to the court?” And “Did you read them or have them explained before you signed them?”  Trustee Meiburger goes two steps further, asking “Did your lawyer give you a copy? And did you review that copy before the hearing today?”

So be sure to look at your papers again before your court date. If there’s a mistake, we want to correct it.

UPDATE  The Bankruptcy trustees get their raise.

The Chapter 7 bankruptcy trustees did get their fee increase from $60.00 to $120.00 per case.  Congress passed it in December and the President signed January 12, 2021.  

It was the first raise for Bankruptcy Trustees in nearly 30 years.