Pledge

Standing 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.

The trustee's office should be open and operating Monday through Friday during regular business
hours.

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.
If the trustee is not personally available, the trustee should have competent staff available to assist or
to respond to inquiries.

The trustee should work to ensure that debtors comply with their obligations under the Bankruptcy
Code and Rules.

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.

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.

The trustee should have a system to timely and accurately record all receipts and disbursements on the
appropriate debtor ledger.

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.

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.

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.