These are examples of the Trustee’s mandatory questions at a typical Chapter 7 bankruptcy 341 meeting of creditors. The trustee will already have the documents you gave us. He reviews your bank statements and taxes to ensure you didn’t transfer assets to creditors or family just before a bankruptcy filing. He will also check the mortgage and car titles to ensure valid liens. It is rare, but the property may belong to him if the bank didn’t file its lien correctly.
Trustee Questions at the Bankruptcy 341 Meeting of Creditors – Video
These are the Eastern District Chapter 13 hearing questions. Ms. Burden requests that your bankruptcy attorney ask the creditors meeting questions. Mr. Wheatley and Reisz are a Chapter 7 Trustees in the Western District. The questions Chapter 7 trustees ask you might vary from Trustee to Trustee and from Chapter 7 to Chapter 13. Here are Mr. Keat’s standard Chapter 7 341 hearing questions for the Western District of Kentucky. You will find a list of the usual questions from the US Trustee’s office and other jurisdictions at the bottom of this post.
Understanding the Role of a Bankruptcy Trustee in 341 Meeting
The primary role of the Chapter 7 bankruptcy trustee is to find assets for the benefit of creditors. In over 90% of Chapter 7 bankruptcy schedules, there are no assets identified for creditors or disposable income to allow a Chapter 13 to be filed bankruptcy. However, the panel trustee will have questions if the petition is not properly prepared. Remember we use the liquidation value normally for personal property in valuing assets and not replacement value.
In Chapter 13 cases, the Chapter 13 bankruptcy trustee is looking to increase the Chapter 13 plan payment. He has difficulty increasing these proposed plan payments if your budget is reasonable and the disposable income makes it impossible to pay more. If you have properly prepared bankruptcy schedules, you should have no problem. Your bankruptcy lawyer has often evaluated your budget and reviewed the bankruptcy case, looking for allowable expenses. Your plan payment must be large enough to pay any mortgage or auto loan default. However, the plan payment must also be feasible and affordable.
What are the bankruptcy questions for Bankruptcy Filers?
If you have filed bankruptcy and need to skip to the sample questions, the questions for consumer bankruptcy cases are below. The bankruptcy court and trustees are primarily interested in the completeness and accuracy of the bankruptcy petition. In looking your budget over, expect questions about any tax refund, domestic support obligation (child support), secured debt, cash advances, gifts to family members, car accident (looking for personal injury money), address for your current employer, recent large payments to creditors, high bills, and luxury property items.
If there are any problems, your bankruptcy attorney can typically file a minor amendment to the bankruptcy petition to correct them. However, leaving out property in your name is a grave error. You cannot exempt and keep property you hide or fail to list. Debts you forget to list in Chapter 13 are not discharged.
A mortgage or auto loan may have a faulty mortgage or car lien, which may but rarely cause property loss. Fraud is the most common basis for losing property. Failure to list other assets, not filing a recent tax return, or providing your most recent tax return commonly causes problems.
Bankruptcy is a financial decision.
The meeting of creditors is designed to gather sensitive or confidential information. When the bankruptcy petition is unclear, the trustee digs deep to discover the reason. The bankruptcy papers, process, and code are designed to find errors. However, filing bankruptcy and fixing your budget should be like fixing a flat tire. We are just taking care of business and designing a new budget you can live on.
Bankruptcy Filing should not be an emotional decision or issue. We are just getting the family budget back on track so you can afford food, a home, medical care, clothing, and the essentials, including retirement. Creditors rarely appear but answer any creditors questions truthfully. The bankruptcy forms and related documents should leave little for the trustee to question. We explain the bankruptcy filers mandatory questions in the bankruptcy forms and bankruptcy papers so that the meeting is simple and you get the bankruptcy discharge. If you have given away property, you may need to wait a one year period or a longer period of two years, for gifts to family and friends. Cash advances and recent charges just before filing can also cause fraud problems.
If You Have a Secured Creditor, Before the 341 Creditors Meeting these are your choices:
- Ask your lender to send a reaffirmation to us if you intend to continue paying for a car or home. Now is the time to sign and file this reaffirmation agreement.
- If you owe more than your car, you might file a motion to redeem and buy it for what it is worth. You can pay the NADA book value for a vehicle. This fixes the problem of having an excellent car with negative equity.
- If you need to surrender the property, a creditor may appear at the hearing to set a time and place to pick up a car. Often, they don’t appear at the creditors meeting and may not pick it up for months. They often fail to pick up a car worth less than 3,000.
Finish Your Debtor Education Class Now and Bring Your Photo ID and Social Security Card to Court
You should finish your debtor education class before the hearing. People often forget to take the second class. Make this mistake, and it may cost you over 600 dollars or worse. If you fail to take the debtor education class before the case closes, you may have to reopen the case. This means paying a second filing fee to reopen the case or not getting a discharge.
We will have sent a copy of your driver’s license and social security card to court, or they will not hold your hearing. Putting the judge and bankruptcy Trustee through additional trouble will cost you.
What is the 341 Hearing About?
The bankruptcy code requires a 341 meeting about your financial situation. The 341 is much easier if you know what questions they will ask you. First, he can ask for any relevant documents about your finances and the transfer of property. The purpose of 341 meetings is to ensure the petition is accurate and that you have listed all the property, debts, transfers, income, and expenses.
The “Deserving Debtor” must do his best to repay and prepare a valid petition. By completing your duties, you are rewarded with a discharge and a new budget you can live on. You may be asked questions about life insurance proceeds, personal injury cases, or inheritances, but these are rarely issues unless you recently won the lottery. The trustee is primarily interested in the completeness and accuracy of the petition.
Prepare a neat and accurate petition. Do not transfer property or repay Mom just before the bankruptcy filing. Don’t use a cheap, uncaring, or unqualified attorney. Trustees don’t care if you are a widow with three orphans or if it is your disabled brother’s home. Chapter 7 trustees earn a 25% commission from the sale of nonexempt property if they can take it. Use a qualified lawyer and become knowledgeable so you don’t lose property. Our book may be boring, but reading it will prepare you.
How Do Trustees Earn Their Pay?
The trustee earns about 25% of anything he can take from the debtor for the first 10,000. The trustee is paid a sliding scale for the funds he pays to creditors. Over 99% of the time, there is nothing for him to take.
The trustee makes about 70 dollars for conducting the 341 hearing. You increase his work if he must dig for the facts or conduct a hearing twice. He can also recover money and property from creditors or persons you have given property to.
If you read our website or book, these questions should be easy to answer. Always tell the truth, understand the bankruptcy law from our website or manual, and prepare a valid petition. Our website is designed to help deserving people.
Be sure to share the materials on Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter, etc., and leave us a lovely review if we did a good job. Let us know if you have a suggestion so we can add information to the website.
Trustee Questions for Your Attorney at the beginning of the Hearing
- Have you personally verified the debtors today and their identification documents?
- What documents did you look at?
- Were those documents original documents?
- Do those documents match the debtor’s identification number on the Notice of Meeting of Creditors?
- He may then ask your attorney to show the Debtor the Debtor’s signature on the schedules.
Trustee Questions for the Debtor at the Bankruptcy 341 Meeting of Creditors
- Please state your name for the record.
- Have you read the Bankruptcy Information Sheet provided by the United States Trustee?
- Did you review and sign the petition, schedules, statements, and related documents you filed for bankruptcy with the court?
- Are you personally familiar with the information in the petition, schedules, statements, and related documents?
- To the best of your knowledge, is the information in the petition, schedules, statements, and related documents true and correct?
- Are there any errors or omissions to bring to my or the court’s attention at this time?
- Are all of your assets and creditors listed in the schedules?
- Have you filed for bankruptcy before?
Bankruptcy 341 Meeting of Creditors Optional Questions
Some more questions at the Bankruptcy 341 meeting of creditors are:
- Have you sold or transferred any property away within the last two years? What was it worth, who did you sell it to, what did you get with the money, and what did you do with the money you received?
- Is anyone holding property belonging to you?
- Do you have a claim against anyone or any business?
- Have you been injured, and can you sue for any injury? If you have and you have sued, what is the status of the bankruptcy case, and who is your lawyer?
- Are you entitled to life insurance or an inheritance?
- Suppose you become a beneficiary of anyone’s estate within six months of the date your bankruptcy petition was filed. In such a bankruptcy case, the trustee must be advised within ten days through your counsel of the nature and extent of the property you will receive. FRBP 1007(h)
- Have you transferred or sold anything over $600 to anyone in the past year? If so, to whom?
- Do you anticipate that you might realize any property, cash or otherwise, as a result of a divorce or separation proceeding?
Even more possible questions about the Existence and Value of Assets
- Do you own or have any interest in any real estate? When did you purchase your property, and what did you pay for it? How did you determine its value? What mortgages are on it?
- Does anyone owe you money?
- If you have a pending refund coming to you, the Chapter 7 trustee in Indiana may want it.
- The year after you file a Chapter 13 in Kentucky, you will lose that refund and all other rebates until your Chapter 13 ends.
- What was the bank balance on the date of your bankruptcy filing?
- What is the value of your car, what do you owe on it, and is it fully insured?
- Do you own any life insurance with a cash value?
- Do you have any winning lottery tickets?
- What businesses have you operated?
- Do you understand what reaffirmation and redemption are? If you are reaffirming a debt relief, which debt will you reiterate?
Bankruptcy 341 Meeting of Creditors Business Questions
- Was anyone paid just before you filed the case?
- Where are the financial records?
- Were they adequately prepared and maintained?
- Who is the person tasked prepares and possesses the business financial records?
- Do you have the reports from the accountants? If not, where are they?
- What records were maintained?
- What years or periods where they prepare for?
- Please produce the income tax returns for the business?
- What accountants were employed?
- You will have to produce the bank account statements and canceled checks.
- Please produce the insurance policies?
- Are there any accounts receivable? Who owes the money for the business. Are any accounts collectible?
- Please produce any corporate minutes?
- What inventory or property remains?
Learn All Trustee Questions by Contacting Us!
Call Nick Thompson. Congress established bankruptcy lawyers as a licensed debt relief agency. Call us if you have questions about the Trustee Questions at the Bankruptcy 341 Meeting. At our law firm, we are happy to go over this with our clients. We make sure to maintain the best attorney-client relationship. We also make our dealings a confidential relationship. However, message and data rates will apply accordingly.
Resources for Bankruptcy
Louisville, Kentucky Bankruptcy Forms
Louisville Kentucky Chapter 7 – 341 Hearing
Chapter 7 or 113 Bankruptcy Trustees and the 341 Hearing
Student Loan Bankruptcy Qualifications
Filing Chapter 7 & Chapter 13 Bankruptcy
Louisville Kentucky Chapter 13 • 341 Confirmation Hearing
If you are considering bankruptcy, don’t delay because timing is crucial. I am here to help you. So, contact my office right away to start the conversation. Nick C. Thompson, Bankruptcy Lawyer: 502-625-0905
