What Can I Expect at the 341 Meeting of Creditors Meeting? (PART ONE)

The 341 meeting is your meeting of creditors.  341 comes from the bankruptcy code that mandates the US Trustee “shall convene and preside at a meeting of creditors.”  11 U.S.C. 341.

In Phoenix, there is a 341 meeting room.  The 341 meeting room is a large room with a bunch of chairs.  This is the room where many people will meet with their lawyers before they go into the Trustee’s office.  There is a Trustee office on the North and South side of the meeting room.  Each Trustee will post their schedules outside of their respective doors.

A Trustee will typically have 6 bankruptcy meetings every half hour.  This means that they have approximately 5 minutes for each case.  If there are no issues with your case and you are the first one up, you can be in and out of the 341 meeting in 3-5 minutes.  If you are the last of the 6 hearings, you will be there for the whole half hour.  Meetings may run late if a creditor shows up to ask questions of a debtor.

The Trustees will require some identification at the 341 meeting.  This will be supplied to you in the documents that the Trustee provides to you before the meeting.  Typically, people will bring a Driver’s License and Social Security card to the 341 meeting.  The Trustee will need the original documents and does not accept photocopies for your identification.  They need to verify that you are who you say you are!

Parking

The bankruptcy court does not have its own parking lot.  There are parking facilities in the area that charge by the hour.  There is also on street parking (which at the date of publication of this article was $1.50/hour, bring plenty of quarters).
Stay tuned for Part Two of this Article…

By: Eric M. Nolan, Esq. (Licensed in Arizona)