FOIA & Privacy Act

The United States Trustee Program (USTP) consists of an Executive Office in Washington, D.C., and approximately 95 field offices in 21 Regions nationwide, covering all Federal judicial districts except Alabama and North Carolina (Note).

As noted in the agency mission statement, United States Trustees monitor and supervise private estate trustees, debtors-in-possession, and others to ensure that the interests of all parties in bankruptcy are protected (www.justice.gov/ust). United States Trustees are responsible for the effective administration of bankruptcy cases arising under chapters 7, 11, 12, and 13 of the federal Bankruptcy Code and serve as "watch-dogs to prevent fraud, dishonesty and overreaching in the bankruptcy arena." See 28 U.S.C. 581-589a and 11 U.S.C. 101, et seq.

The Executive Office maintains certain administrative records and USTP regional and field offices maintain most case files. The Executive Office handles all requests made under the FOIA and/or the Privacy Act. Accordingly, all requests for USTP records, whether through FOIA or the Privacy Act, should be addressed to the Office of the General Counsel, Executive Office for U.S. Trustees, at the physical or email address listed above, and should identify a case name, particular judicial district, and/or specific USTP office(s) where responsive records may exist.

You need not place a FOIA request to obtain access to recorded bankruptcy meetings of creditors conducted under 11 U.S.C. § 341(a). To obtain these recordings, please contact the local United States Trustee office with oversight responsibility for the respective bankruptcy case in which the meeting was conducted. Contact information for all United States Trustee field offices may be accessed here.

Please note that trustee complaints should not be submitted through the USTP FOIA Mailbox or FOIA.gov. If you have a complaint regarding a trustee, you must direct your correspondence to the UST for the Region in which the bankruptcy case is filed. The USTP FOIA group cannot respond to trustee complaints.

DOJ FOIA Reference Guide: A comprehensive guide to FOIA that serves as a handbook for obtaining information from the Department.

DOJ Privacy Act Reference: An outline of the Department’s procedures for permitting an individual access to, or amendment of, certain specific records.”

• How and where to submit FOIA requests to the U.S. Trustee Program
• How and where to submit Privacy Act requests to the U.S. Trustee Program
• FOIA Library: Publicly available information for which no FOIA request is required
• FOIA.gov: Website to find average U.S. Trustee Program FOIA request processing times

• USTP Privacy Impact Assessments Available from the Office of Privacy and Civil Liberties
• Major Information Systems (MIS)
• Department of Justice FOIA Home Page
• Department of Justice FOIA Regulations
• Department of Justice Privacy Policy
• Accessibility Information
• Proactive Disclosures
• Department of Justice FOIA Libraries
• Federal Bankruptcy Code (11 U.S.C. 101 et seq.)
• U.S. Code, Title 28 (Chapter 39 - U.S. Trustees)