Seattle Trustee Information
1. Who is My Chapter 13 Bankruptcy Trustee Going to Be?
If you live in King, San Juan, Skagit, Snohomish, Whatcom, Island, Kitsap or Jefferson county, your Chapter 13 Bankruptcy Trustee will be K. Michael Fitzgerald.
K. Michael Fitzgerald
Chapter 13 Trustee
600 University Street
Ste 2200
Seattle, WA 98101-4100
Payment Address for the Seattle Chapter 13 Trustee is as follows:
K. Michael Fitzgerald
Chapter 13 Trustee
PO Box 2139
Memphis, TN 38101-2139
If you live in Pierce, Lewis, Mason, Thurston or Grays Harbor county, your Chapter 13 Bankruptcy Trustee will be David M. Howe.
David M. Howe
Chapter 13 Trustee
1551 Broadway.
Suite 600
Tacoma, WA 98402
Payment Address for the Seattle Chapter 13 Trustee is as follows:
David M. Howe, Trustee
P.O. Box 120
Memphis, TN 38101-0120
2. Who are the Seattle Area Chapter 7 Trustees?
Chapter 7 Trustees
Ronald G. Brown
999 Third Avenue, Suite 2525
Seattle, WA 98104 -4032
Phone: (206)342-7850
Virginia A. Burdette
600 Stewart Street, Suite 1300
Seattle, WA 98101 -1212
E-mail: vlaburdette@seanet.com and trusteeasst@seanet.com
Phone: (206) 441-0203
Dennis Lee Burman
P.O. Box 1620
Marysville, WA 98270 -1620
E-mail: dburman@premier1.net
Phone: (360) 657-3332
Fax: (360) 657-3522
Kathryn A. Ellis
600 Stewart Street, Suite 1300
Seattle, WA 98101 -1212
E-mail: kae@seanet.com
Phone: (206)682-5002
Fax: (206) 624-2631
Nancy L. James
15008 63rd Drive, SE.
Snohomish, WA 98296 -4213
Phone: (425)485-5541
Michael P. Klein
755 Winslow Way East, Suite 201
Bainbridge Island, WA 98110
E-mail: trusteeklein@hotmail.com
Phone: (206) 842-3638
Fax: (206) 842-1541
Michael B. McCarty
400 Warren Avenue, Suite #411
Bremerton, WA 98337
E-mail: Michael@mccartytrustee.com
Phone: (360) 377-2516
Fax: (866) 941-8592
John S. Peterson
P.O. Box 829
Kingston, WA 98346
E-mail: kingstontrustee@hotmail.com
Phone: (360) 626-4392
James F. Rigby
Plaza 600 Building, Suite 1908
600 Stewart Street
Seattle, WA 98101 -1217
Phone: (206)441-0826
Edmund J. Wood
303 North 67th Street
Seattle, WA 98103 -5209
E-mail: ewood1@aol.com
Phone: (206)623-4382
Fax: (206) 224-4895
3. Who are the Tacoma Area Chapter 7 Bankruptcy Trustees?
Chapter 7 Trustees
Brian Lowell Budsberg
P.O. Box 1489
Olympia, WA 98507
E-mail: Trustee@budsberg.com
Phone: (360)584-9093
Fax: (360)252-8333
Terrence J. Donahue
1201 Pacific Avenue, Suite 1200
Tacoma, WA 98402 -4395
4002 E-mail: tjdbankruptcy@eisenhowerlaw.com
Phone: (253)620-2519
Kathryn A. Ellis
600 Stewart Street, Suite 1300
Seattle, WA 98101 -1212
E-mail: kae@seanet.com
4002 E-mail: cgw@seanet.com
Phone: (206)682-5002
Fax: (206) 624-2631
Mark D. Waldron
6711 Regents Boulevard West
Tacoma, WA 98466
4. What Should I do if the weather is bad and I have a 341 Hearing?
In the event of snow or other inclement weather that might cause the U.S. Bankruptcy Court to close or to have a late opening, make sure to start checking the U.S. Bankruptcy Court’s for the Western District of Washington website at www.wawb.uscourts.gov.
Scheduled 341 meetings with any Bankruptcy Trustee during a time in which the U.S. Bankruptcy Court is closed will not be held and you will receive notice of a continued date and time in the mail.
Remember that if the U.S. Bankruptcy Court has a late start, all meetings scheduled at the time and after the U.S. Bankruptcy Court has opened will be still be held and you will be required to appear. If appearing is not going to be possible due to the weather conditions in your immediate area, contact your attorney so that he will be able to relay that information to the court to explain your failure to appear.
5. What Do I Need to Bring to My Seattle or Tacoma Area 341 Bankruptcy Hearing?
After you file for Chapter 13 Bankruptcy, you will be required to attend a meeting over which the Chapter 13 Trustee presides. This meeting is called the Section 341 Meeting. The U.S. Bankruptcy Court or the Western District of Washington will set a date for your Section 341 Meeting. You will receive a copy of this notice in the mail.
At the meeting, the Bankruptcy Trustee will ask questions regarding the content of your schedules, assets, debts and other matters. After the Trustee is done, your creditors will have an opportunity to ask you questions regarding the location and condition of your property, hazard insurance coverage and matters related to your financial affairs. Note: Creditors almost never show up at these hearings.
At the Section 341 meeting you are required to provide:
1. Original Proof of Identification
2. Original Proof of FULL Social Security Number
Photocopies will NOT be accepted.
It is critically important that you bring all of the above documents. In both Seattle and Tacoma, these hearings are being held in federal buildings so you will not even get in without photo identification.
6. How Do I Access My Bankruptcy Case Information for My Seattle or Tacoma Chapter 13 Bankruptcy?
Your Chapter 13 Bankruptcy case information is maintained at the National Data Center and you can review it at any time without charge. It has been designed for individuals in a Chapter 13 bankruptcy. It puts your Chapter 13 case’s information at your fingertips twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. To login to the National Data Center website please visit www.ndc.org.
7. What if I Don’t Speak English Well?
A phone interpreter service is made available free of charge at their section 341 meeting. Washington or Tacoma area Debtors who need a language interpreter for this purpose should have their attorney contact the trustee assigned to their case. The same holds true for Washington or Tacoma area Debtors who need a sign language interpreter. Contact our Seattle Bankruptcy Law Office and we will be happy to make arrangements for you.
8. Can I make an electronic fund transfer (ACH) payment to the Seattle or Tacoma Chapter 13 Trustee payment instead of a check?
Wage deduction may not be an option for some debtors. Only in unusual circumstances will either the Seattle or Tacoma Chapter 13 Bankruptcy Trustees allow plan payments to be made by debtors directly in place of payroll deductions. Fees may be involved in making payments in this matter, but they would be roughly equal to what you would pay for a cashier’s check or money order. Fees for making payments in this way are not paid to the Chapter 13 Trustees, but to the private company facilitating the payments. For information on how to set this up, please contact our Seattle Bankruptcy Law Office at 206-674-4559.
9. Where is the Seattle Bankruptcy Court, what does it look like and how do I get there?
Seattle Bankruptcy Court
700 Stewart Street
Seattle WA 98101
NOTE: The bankruptcy hearings are not in the Federal Courthouse in Seattle. They are in an office building called the Park Place Building located on the northeast corner of 6th and Seneca downtown Seattle. Parking is expensive in the building and often the building is full. Park where you can.
FROM THE SOUTH (heading north on I-5)
Take the Madison Street exit. Immediately past the light at 7th and Madison, you may look for parking on the street on the right side of the street for the next two blocks.
FROM THE NORTH (heading south on I-5)
Take the James Street exit. Turn left at the first light, this will put you on Cherry. Take the second left (avoid the first left as it will put right back onto I-5) onto 7th, which runs parallel to the freeway heading north. Continue on that street for about 3 blocks, until you hit Madison, where you can find parking on the right side of the street for the next two blocks.
FROM THE EASTSIDE
Take I-90 West, and then I-5 North. Take the Madison Street exit. Immediately past the light at 7th and Madison, look for parking on the street on the right side of the street for the next two blocks.
10. Where is the Tacoma Bankruptcy Court, what does it look like and how do I get there?
Tacoma Courthouse
1717 Pacific Avenue
Tacoma, WA 98402
Directions to the Tacoma bankruptcy court:
To find the Tacoma bankruptcy court, take the Tacoma City Center exit (133) from I-5 and go north on I-705 past the Tacoma Dome. Take the 21st Street exit left (west) onto 21st Street and turn right (north) onto Pacific Avenue. The Tacoma and Pierce County bankruptcy court is located a short four blocks north at 1717 Pacific Avenue in the historic Union Station between the Washington State History Museum and the Tacoma Art Museum, and across Pacific Avenue from the University of Washington at Tacoma.
11. Where can I park?
Parking at the Tacoma bankruptcy court is limited but free parking is sometimes available across the street on the west side of Pacific Avenue. You can also find public pay parking lots, which are located south and east of the Washington State History Museum and north of the Pierce County bankruptcy court. These can be accessed from either Pacific Avenue south of the Washington State History Museum or from Hood Street north of the Tacoma Art Museum.
12. What kind of security can I expect?
As you might expect, security measures have increased at all federal courthouses, including Union Station bankruptcy court in Tacoma, WA. Please be prepared to show your photo ID and pass through the security checkpoint, which includes a metal detector.
