Compensation of Standing Trustees Under the Bankruptcy Reform Act

The compensation scheme made applicable to court-appointed chapter 13 standing trustees by the Bankruptcy Reform Act of 1978 is designed to encourage maximum economic efficiency in administering plans, and it would be contrary to congressional intent to permit a subsequent year’s surplus to be applied to a prior year’s deficit so as to increase the trustee’s compensation for that prior year. However, a subsequent surplus may be applied to offset out-of-pocket losses suffered by the trustee in a prior year so as to permit the trustee to break even for that year.