Supreme court of Russia outlined the situation when bankruptcy trustee does not have a right for remuneration

The highest court considered the case on the payment of remuneration to the bankruptcy trustee for participation in the debtor's insolvency proceedings.  The courts of the first two instances rejected the claim, the district court satisfied, and the Supreme Court considered the actions of the anti-crisis manager insufficient to receive money.

The case concerned the bankruptcy of an individual, who insisted on carrying out a debt restructuring procedure against him and presented a plan for paying the debt that he had drawn up.  At the same time, the bankruptcy trustee and the creditor objected, insisting on the procedure for the sale of the property.  However, restructuring was chosen as a method of overcoming the financial crisis, and the debtor successfully coped with it.

Then, along with the bankruptcy trustee, he applied to the court with a demand to complete the procedure, and the trustee additionally asked for remuneration to be paid to him.

The courts of first and appellate instance denied the rejected his claim, stating that he did not take an active part in the procedure, but the district did not support this position.  A board of three judges found that the actions of the manager did not contain any illegal actions or inaction and satisfied his claim.

However, the Supreme Court of Russia canceled this decision, indicating that the task of a bankruptcy trustee is to help the debtor find a way out of the current financial situation and return to normal pre-crisis life.  In the opinion of the Supreme Court of Russia, in the case under consideration, the anti-crisis manager only passively watched the progress of the execution of the debt restructuring plan proposed by the debtor.  Such participation was not enough to obtain the right to remuneration, concluded the board (decision No. 305-ES21-9813 of August 23, 2021).