The United States Trustee Program is a component of the United States Department of Justice that is responsible for overseeing the administration of bankruptcy cases and private trustees. The applicable federal law is found at and , et seq. In addition to the 21 United States Trustees, the program is administered by the Executive Office for U.S. Trustees (EOUST), located in Washington, D.C., and 95 field offices. The United States Trustee is the federal official charged with enforcing civil bankruptcy laws in the United States. Overview The United States Attorney General generally appoints a separate United States Trustee for each of 21 geographical regions for a five-year term. Each United States Trustee is removable from office by and works under the general supervision of the Attorney General (see and ). Each United States Trustee, an officer of the Department of Justice, is responsible for maintaining and supervising a panel of private trustees for Chapter 7 bankruptcy cases (see ). The United States Trustee has other duties including the oversight of administration of most bankruptcy cases and trustees (see generally ). Each of the 21 regional U.S. Trustees maintains an office in each judicial district within the trustee's region, except for Alabama and North Carolina, which are not administered by the U.S. Trustee program, but utilize what is called the bankruptcy administrator, performing a similar function to the U.S. Trustee. The U.S. Trustee does not have prosecution powers, but is required by law to refer information regarding potential criminal violations of bankruptcy laws to the United States Attorney. Interim trustees serve by the U.S. Trustee's appointment in Chapter 7 cases. Generally the interim trustee is assigned at random from a "panel" of qualified individuals at the time a bankruptcy case is filed, and is automatically appointed as the "permanent" case trustee after the first meeting of creditors. Due to the relative infrequency of filing of petitions for Chapter 12 (family farmer debt adjustment) relief, trustees for these cases are typically appointed on an ad hoc basis. Each judicial district has one or more Standing Chapter 13 Trustees. The Standing Trustees are responsible for the administration of all Chapter 13 cases filed in their judicial district. If for any reason all panel and/or standing trustees are disqualified or unable to perform, the U.S. Trustee may serve as trustee for a particular case under Chapter 7, 12 or 13. This very rarely happens.