A. Trustee to Maintain Separate Interest-bearing Accounts for Estates over $5,000

The trustee in each Chapter 7 case under the Bankruptcy Code shall deposit all money of the estate in one or more segregated interest-bearing accounts in accordance with §345 of the Bankruptcy Code, whenever the sum shall total or exceed $5,000.

B. Rule Not to Limit Authority of Judge

Nothing in this rule is intended to limit a judge's authority to enter orders in a particular case affecting the investments by a trustee under any chapter of the Bankruptcy Code.

Committee Note: This rule is based on local Interim Bankruptcy Rule 2. While the judges believe that trustees in Chapter 7 have a duty to invest prudently, the statutes and Fed.R.Bankr.P. do not so specify. This rule, previously adopted as an Interim Rule, makes that duty clear to the Chapter 7 trustees. Trustees under other chapters generally have duties incompatible with investment of funds. However, in some circumstances, even those trustees should invest estate funds, and that is the reason for the second paragraph. Nothing in this rule bars a judge from ordering the investment of or the trustee from investing sums of less than $5,000.