What, Exactly, Is the Trustee’s Percentage Fee

In recent years, a handful of cases have discussed the issue of what happens to the trustee’s percentage fee, collected from debtor plan payments, upon the dismissal or conversion of a case prior to confirmation. This is an emerging area of law, with decisions on both sides.  However, with this new issue, there appears to be at least some confusion about this fee. Specifically, at least some judges seem to equate the trustee percentage fee with the trustee’s personal compensation.So, let’s go back to basics – just what is a trustee percentage fee, how is . . .

It looks like you are not signed in or registered! This content is only available to members.

Or Sign In Below:

rebeccaherr
Chapter 13 Standing Trustee for the District of Maryland (Annapolis)

Rebecca A. (Becky) Herr was appointed Chapter 13 Standing Trustee for the District of Maryland on October 1, 2019 and maintains her offices in Annapolis.

Ms. Herr’s appointment came on the heels of the retirement of Chapter 13 Standing Trustee Nancy Spencer-Grigsby. But Herr is no stranger to NACTT, The Academy, and the Chapter 13 Trustee community.

So, let’s start at the beginning. She received her undergraduate degree (in Criminology and Criminal Justice because she thought she was going to be a criminal lawyer!) from the University of Maryland.

Before attending law school, she took a few years off from school; lived in Florida and worked at Disney World.

She stumbled into bankruptcy (as many of us did). Her last year in law school she took a bankruptcy class. She expressed an interest in bankruptcy practice to her professor, Mark Neal, who at the time was the AUST for Baltimore. Neal knew that one of the then Chapter 13 Standing Trustees, Gerard Vetter, was looking for someone to work in his office and made the suggestion that she might be a good fit. Vetter hired Herr originally as a part-time law clerk and then she worked as a paralegal.

She received her law degree from the University of Maryland School of Law.

In 2010, Vetter’s office merged with the other Chapter 13 Standing Trustee in the District of Maryland, Nancy Spencer-Grigsby when Vetter took a position as an Assistant United States Trustee. At the time of the merger, Herr became one of three Staff Attorneys to Ms. Spencer-Grigsby as the office was now covering eight judges.

Herr often jokes: “I pushed my way into the office. Pushed my way into any job that came open, and eventually pushed Gerard out the door so I could have a position as an attorney. Looks like my evil plan really worked!”

Her hobbies mainly include running and baking (you need one to cancel out the other, right?). Although she has an adventuresome spirit and could probably be talked into anything if it sounds fun enough!

Related Articles

JamesDavis
February 25, 2024
“Over the years courts have struggled to apply the lien-avoidance provisions under § 522(f) to jointly owned property. . . .Things get even more confusing when the debtor owns property as a tenancy by the entireties. That antiquated form of ownership has odd characteristics that do not fit well into the § 522(f) calculation.”
Members
Karen Jolley, headshot
February 11, 2024
“Several recent bankruptcy cases have considered the circumstances under which funds held in, derived from, or contributed to a retirement account may be exempt from the bankruptcy estate.”
Members
Molly Pro picture
August 28, 2022
If you put your ear to the ground you may hear the rumblings regarding a change to Bankruptcy Rule 3002.1 requiring the institution of a mid-case bankruptcy audit. This mid-case audit would be like the Notice of Final Cure but would be performed by a trustee’s office in the middle of a pending Chapter 13, rather than at the end,...
Members
February 10, 2019
In June of 2017 Michele T. Hatcher was appointed Chapter 13 Standing Trustee for the Northern District of Alabama, Northern Division. Ms. Hatcher replaces retiring Trustee Michael Ford. She maintains her office in the quaint Southern town of Decatur which is nicknamed “The River City” because it is on the banks of Wheeler Lake, along the Tennessee River. Prior to...
Members
Copy of Hildebrand-2016
August 21, 2022
Where a Chapter 13 plan treats a claim as secured only by the debtor’s mobile home under § 506 and not real property, the effect of a notice of fees, costs and charges is irrelevant. (Coleman) In re White, 2022 WL 2826531 (Bankr. S.D. Ga. July 19, 2022) Case Summary Shalonda White filed a Chapter 13 petition in July of...
Members
Miller_Deb_pp
November 12, 2023
Just a few more weeks ‘til principal and interest gotta be listed separately on a POC.
Members
May 5, 2019
The CFPB (Bureau), May 2, 2019, issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM), which proposes to raise the coverage thresholds for collecting and reporting data about closed-end mortgage loans and open-end lines of credit under the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA) rules. The NPRM would provide relief to smaller lenders from HMDA’s data reporting requirements, and would clarify partial exemptions...
May 31, 2020
By The Honorable William Houston Brown (Retired) Only bankruptcy court issuing discharge order can enforce injunction. The Fifth Circuit held that only the bankruptcy court issuing a discharge order has authority to enforce the discharge injunction. The opinion reviews pre-2005 Code provisions and current 28 U.S.C. § 1963, citing other Circuits that “have insisted on a return to the bankruptcy...
Members
ahern_larry_regular
February 27, 2022
Background A recent Chapter 7 case out of the Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of California, In re Rhodes,1 addressed reaffirmation in a context that should be of interest to debtor's attorneys. As explained in Part 1, Rhodes points out that the "ride-through" of a debtor's secured debt after a Chapter 7 — which Congress . . . It...
Members
April 4, 2021
The CARES Act, Public Law 116-136 had amended several parts of the Bankruptcy Code, but included sunset provisions terminating March 27, 2021. The COVID-19 Bankruptcy Relief Extension Act of 2021, H.R.1651, passed by the House and Senate and signed by the President on March 27, 2021, extended some provisions for another year. Section 1113 of the CARES Act had amended...

Looking to Become a Member?

ConsiderChapter13.org offers a forum to advance continuing education of consumer bankruptcy via access to insightful articles, informative webinars, and the latest industry news. Join now to benefit from expert resources and stay informed.

Webinars

These informative sessions are led by industry experts and cover a range of consumer bankruptcy topics.

Member Articles

Written by industry experts, these articles provide in-depth analysis and practical guidance on consumer bankruptcy topics.

Industry News

The Academy is the go-to source for the latest news and analysis in the Chapter 13 bankruptcy industry.

To get started, please let us know which of these best fits your current position: