Yes, I know what personal bankruptcy is. And the person filing contacts the Trustee, the Courts don't assign one. In a personal bankruptcy, the Trustee protects you from your creditor, not the other way around as is stated in the Zaifman document. The Trustee will take your non-exempt assets and use those to pay off what they can to your creditors. If it's your first one, you pay the Trustee a determined amount for 9 months and then you're released from any remaining unpaid debts and free to start over. If you can pay off all your debts and will still have surplus assets, no Trustee would recommend that you claim bankruptcy. They would work out other debt relief options to help you get your debts paid. There would be no point in claiming bankruptcy if you could still pay off those debts with your assets and a repayment plan. The whole purpose is to get rid of out of control debt that you cannot repay. No one would want that mark on their credit rating if they had still managed to pay off all creditors and have assets left over, nor would any professional recommend it. If, as you say, the Trustee took receivership of your assets, paid your debts and returned the leftovers back to you, there would be no bankruptcy to claim as there would be no debt left.