does a trustee have the authority to send a marchal to arrest you if you do not show up for a creidtor meeting?

Well, they can't arrest you for it, but there's a lot of missing facts here.  Why wasn't your case dismissed instead of converted to Chapter 7?  If you requested dismissal and the judge denied it and converted your case to Chapter 7, the only basis for that would be if you committed some sort of fraud or bad faith in connection with your Chapter 13 and there are assets which a Trustee in the Chapter 7 can liquidate (above your exemption amounts). If you don't show up to the meeting your case MIGHT get dismissed automatically, or if there are significant assets and other issues, the result might be loss of your discharge and the Trustee will simply liquidate your assets and pay your creditors. You need to hire an experienced bankruptcy attorney to get all the relevant facts and advise you on your best options at this point. Mark Markus has been practicing exclusively bankruptcy law in California since 1991.  He is a Certified Specialist in Bankruptcy Law by the State Bar of California Board of Legal Specialization,  AV-Rated by martindale.com, and A+ rated by the Better Business Bureau.