Trustee roles in D. Kan. cases
Bankruptcy trustees are case-level participants, not court-level officials. Each chapter has its own trustee structure:
Chapter 7 — Panel Trustees
Appointed from a panel maintained by the U.S. Trustee Program (USTP) in Region 13 (covers Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota). Each Chapter 7 case is assigned to a panel trustee, who liquidates non-exempt assets and distributes proceeds to creditors.
Chapter 13 — Standing Trustees
The Chapter 13 standing trustee is a single appointee (or small number of appointees) per district who administers all Chapter 13 cases — collecting plan payments and distributing to creditors over the 3-5 year plan term. Standing trustees are public officials, not panel members.
Subchapter V (Ch. 11, Small Business) — Trustees
Subchapter V was added to Chapter 11 by the Small Business Reorganization Act of 2019. The Sub V trustee's role differs from a Ch. 7 panel trustee: rather than liquidating, the Sub V trustee facilitates a consensual plan, oversees distribution, and ensures the debtor complies with plan obligations. Sub V trustees are appointed per case from a USTP panel.
United States Trustee (UST)
The U.S. Trustee oversees private trustees, monitors case administration, and prosecutes abuse and fraud. The UST appears in cases with statutory authority under 28 U.S.C. § 586 and 11 U.S.C. § 307.
How to find a specific trustee's cases
Trustee assignments are recorded at the docket level, not the court personnel level. To find dockets associated with a specific trustee in D. Kan.:
- Use CourtListener docket search filtered to D. Kan..
- Add a name term to the query (e.g., the trustee's last name).
- For complete docket detail (including all parties, attorneys, and trustee), retrieve the full docket from PACER.