Approximately one month after your case has been filed you are required to attend the first court appearance which is known as your 341a meeting of creditors. Quite often this first court appearance is intimidating and frightens most clients. There are notions that long lines of creditors will be present at the 341a meeting and a battle will have to be fought to discharge the outstanding debts. The reality is that quite often no creditors appear. Further, most 341a meetings are quite short in length and uneventful as long as the requisite information is provided to the trustee of the court and all the pertinent information has been properly disclosed. The central purpose of the 341a meeting is to determine the accuracy of the information provided to the court while the client is under oath. Some of the most common questions asked at the 341a meeting are as follows:
(1) Did you assist your attorney in the preparation of the bankruptcy petition and schedules? If so, is the information provided truthful and correct to the best of your knowledge?
(2) What is the main reason you are filing for bankruptcy?
(3) Have you previously filed for bankruptcy?
(4) Is the copy of the tax return a true and correct copy of your most recent taxes you have filed with the IRS?
(5) Do you have any domestic support obligations?
(6) Are you a plaintiff in any lawsuit? If so what is the nature of the case and who is representing you?
Thus, rather than preparing for war with your creditors prepare to truthfully disclose the facts of your individual case and the meeting will go more smoothly than you may think.
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