341 Meeting in Chapter 7 Bankruptcy

When an individual or a business firm files for a bankruptcy, he has to attend the meeting with the creditors at some point of time. This meeting is called 341 meeting or meeting of creditors.

A bankruptcy case filed under chapter chapter 13 requires the debtor to attend the 341 meeting once he has submitted the petition and supporting forms to the bankruptcy court. After this the court appoints a trustee, responsible for fixing the 341 meeting. This trustee informs both the parties about the meeting and both the parties are required to be present for the 341 meeting along with their lawyer.

When case is filed under chapter meeting is compulsory for the debtor before the discharge of the debt. This meeting is mainly beneficial to the creditors as they can ask various questions to the debtor and clear their queries.

The main purpose of 341 meeting is to help the trustee as well as the creditors to gain information about debtor's present financial standing. Here, both trustees and creditors clarify and seek important information. Here, the main questions asked to debtor are about his liabilities and assets along with information provided by the debtor in his paperwork.

There are documents like identity proof, social security card, checkbooks, tax returns, bank statements and many other documents that the debtor is asked to bring for the 341 meeting.

A 341 meeting generally takes about 15 to 20 minutes to complete. The perplexing information regarding the case is not revealed after the conclusion of the meeting. However, if done so, then either the trustee or the creditors or both can ask for adversary proceedings.

It has been seen that though creditors are allowed to attend the meeting, they don't go for the meeting. They prefer it to be between the trustee and the debtor. They mostly attend the meeting when they believe that the debtor might be engaged in some fraud and they need to clarify that.

The debtor is under the oath during this meeting so he needs to answer the truth or can face charges. Creditors are generally given few minutes to question the debtor under the oath.

There are multiple cases going on in the bankruptcy court, so generally you will see that there are multiple 341 meetings on a single day. This is the reason the trustees are very specific in asking questions. They ask for compulsory or mandatory question and other specific questions related to the chapter 7. The question can be:

Have you ever filed for bankruptcy?

What amount of money do you owe?

Do you owe money from anyone?

Do you have a vehicle of your own? So on....

This meeting is recorded either by a tape recorder or by a court reporter as the debtor is under the oath and this will be very relevant in further proceedings.