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In either a Chapter 7 Bankruptcy case or Chapter 13 Bankruptcy case, all debtors (the individual(s)) filing a bankruptcy must appear at §341 Meeting of Creditors hearing with their bankruptcy attorney.  The meeting is presided over by a Trustee that the Bankruptcy Court has appointed in their case.

In a Chapter 7 Bankruptcy, the Trustee’s job is to question a debtor under oath as to the truthfulness and accuracy of the Petition and Schedules the debtor filed which discloses all of their assets, debts, income, expenses and other financial data.  It is also his or her job to liquidate any assets of the debtor that are deemed non-exempt (not protected) and use the proceeds of the liquidation to pay creditors.

The §341 Meeting of Creditors hearing in a Chapter 13 case is similar, however, the Chapter 13 Trustee is who representing the debtor will make monthly payments to creditors over the course of 36 to 60 months while the debtor is in bankruptcy.

Debtors must present valid forms of identification to the Trustee at this hearing in the form of a valid state-issued photo id and their original social security card.  Creditors are invited to appear at these hearings to question the debtor, however, in most cases, creditors rarely appear at these meetings.  Once the meeting is concluded, the Chapter 7 Trustee will typically indicate whether or not he/she will recommend a Discharge.  The Chapter 13 Trustee will advise of any issues related to having the debtor’s Chapter 13 Plan confirmed which must be remedied prior to the Confirmation hearing.