Reviewed and updated August 24, 2026.

This is the practical side of filing in Arizona — who the trustees are, what it costs, and what the court actually requires of you. Most of it is information my clients ask about in the first week, collected here so you don't have to call to find out.

Arizona Chapter 13 Trustees

If you file Chapter 13, a trustee is assigned to your case. They review your plan, collect your monthly payment, distribute it to your creditors, and conduct the meeting of creditors. They are not your lawyer and they don't represent you — but you'll be dealing with their office for three to five years, so it's worth knowing who they are.

This section is about Chapter 13. If you're filing Chapter 7, skip to the next one — your trustee's role is a different job, and there are no plan payments to arrange.

Where your case is filed follows from the county of the address on your petition — that's set by the court's Local Rule 1071-1, not by choice. See the county table further down. Southern Arizona cases are filed in Tucson; most of the rest are filed in Phoenix.

From there, you don't choose your trustee and neither do I. Tucson cases go to Dianne Kerns. Phoenix cases are assigned at random by the clerk, between Russell Brown and Edward Maney. There's no strategy to it and nothing to appeal — it's a coin flip, and all three are experienced trustees doing the same job under the same code.

A few things worth knowing about plan payments

Your first payment is due within 30 days of filing — before your plan is even confirmed. Missing early payments is one of the more common ways a case goes wrong, and it's entirely avoidable.

Use the method and address listed for your trustee above, and put your case number on every payment. Each trustee has their own portal and their own payment address, and those addresses are out of state — Los Angeles, Chicago, and Memphis respectively.

Set up your payment method before your first one is due rather than the week it is. If you're ever unsure whether a payment landed, ask me before you send another one.

If You're Filing Chapter 7

Chapter 7 works differently enough that most of the section above doesn't apply to you. There is no repayment plan, so there are no monthly payments, no payment portal, and no lockbox. Nothing to set up and nothing to keep up.

You're still assigned a trustee, but from a panel rather than from three people, and the assignment is random, on a rotation. Their job is a different one too. A Chapter 7 trustee's task is to look at what you own and determine whether anything falls outside your exemptions — anything the estate could sell to pay creditors. In the large majority of consumer cases the answer is nothing, everything is protected, and the case is reported as a no-asset case.

What that means in practice is that your Chapter 7 trustee is someone you'll deal with once, at the meeting of creditors, rather than for years. They'll typically want documents in advance — tax returns, recent pay stubs, bank statements around the filing date — and I'll handle getting those to them.

See Chapter 7 in Arizona for what the process actually looks like and which property is protected.

The Meeting of Creditors Is Now on Zoom

Every filer attends one meeting, called the meeting of creditors or the § 341 meeting. It is not a hearing. There is no judge and no courtroom. The trustee asks you questions under oath about your petition — whether you read it, whether it's accurate, what you own, what changed recently. In a straightforward case it takes a few minutes.

These used to be held in person. They aren't anymore. The U.S. Trustee Program moved § 341 meetings to video nationwide after the pandemic, and it's now standing policy in Chapter 7, 12, and 13 cases rather than a temporary measure. In Arizona, Zoom meetings apply to cases filed on or after May 1, 2024.

You'll need the Zoom meeting ID and passcode assigned to your trustee — each trustee has their own, and they come with your notice of the meeting. You can join by phone for audio only if video isn't workable. In-person meetings still happen, but rarely, and only when the U.S. Trustee's office decides one is necessary and gives notice.

The trustee has to verify your identity and your Social Security number. You don't handle that part — you provide your photo ID and Social Security documentation to me, and I provide them to the trustee for the meeting. It's one less thing to get wrong on the day, and it's the same whether you attend from home or from my office.

One thing worth saying about the video format: being at your kitchen table doesn't make it informal. You're under oath, it's recorded, and your answers matter exactly as much as they would have in a federal building. A bad connection, a barking dog, or a family member wandering through the frame all make a short meeting longer.

You don't have to do it alone

My clients are always welcome to come to my office and attend the meeting with me. Same Zoom call — but on my connection, in a quiet room, with me sitting beside you rather than in a window on your screen.

I'd generally rather you did. It removes every technical thing that can go wrong, your identification is handled in the room, and if something comes up that needs a lawyer's answer, I'm there for it instead of hearing about it afterward. For most people it also turns the single most nerve-wracking part of the process into a fairly ordinary morning.

What It Costs to File

The court's filing fee is separate from attorney's fees. It's set nationally and it's the same whether you hire a lawyer or file on your own.

The Two Courses You Have to Take

Every individual filer takes two separate courses. People routinely confuse them, and taking the wrong one at the wrong time delays a case.

Before filing: credit counseling

A briefing from an approved agency, completed within 180 days before your case is filed. Your case cannot be filed without the certificate.

After filing: debtor education

A financial management course taken after the case is filed. You do not receive a discharge without it — and this is where people lose cases they had already effectively won, by simply forgetting the second course.

Both must be from a provider approved by the U.S. Trustee for Arizona. The approved list is linked below.

Where Your Case Is Filed

You don't pick. The county of the address on your petition determines which office your case is filed in, under the court's Local Rule 1071-1. That in turn determines which trustee you're assigned and, for Chapter 13, where your meeting of creditors is held.

Official Sources

These are the primary sources. Everything else you'll find online about Arizona bankruptcy is somebody's interpretation, including mine.

• U.S. Bankruptcy Court, District of Arizona
  Local rules, forms, filing fees, court calendars.
• Approved credit counseling agencies
  The U.S. Trustee's official list. Use only providers approved for Arizona.
• Bankruptcy Basics — U.S. Courts
  The federal judiciary's plain-language overview of the process.

Trustee office links are in the table further up, next to the trustee they belong to.

If You'd Rather Just Ask

Reference pages only go so far. If you want to know what any of this means for your situation specifically, that's what a consultation is for — and it's free, in person or by phone.

You may also want:
Chapter 7 in Arizona ·
Chapter 13 in Arizona ·
Stopping a trustee's sale ·
Tax debt and bankruptcy