The law requires that you attend a meeting of creditors. The purpose of the meeting of creditors is to give your creditors and the trustee an opportunity to ask you relevant questions concerning the reasons you filed the bankruptcy and what your intentions are concerning secured creditors. Secured creditors are those creditors you either, borrowed money from to purchase things such as a home, a car or truck, furniture, household appliances, computer and etc., or you borrowed money and gave the creditor a security interest in items you owned prior to borrowing the money. Generally the answers to the questions asked are contained in your petition and schedules; therefore, you should be familiar with the information contained in the petition and schedules. You are encouraged to review the petition and schedules before attending the meeting. Additionally, you should bring your copy of the petition and schedules along with any other documents you received from this office, the court or any of the creditors to the meeting of creditors. I recommend you keep all the documents related to your bankruptcy in a large envelope in a safe place for at least seven years.
It is important you show up at the meeting of creditors on time. You should allow yourself twice the amount of time than it would normally take you to travel to the courthouse where your meeting is to be held. If it normally takes you one hour travel time, allow two hours. You must bring with you a photo id issued by a governmental unit and proof of your social security number. Drivers license, passports, id cards issued by the state, military id card, governmental employee id card and etc. are examples of acceptable photo id's. Social security card, letter from the social security administration containing your social security number, letter from the IRS containing your social security number are examples of acceptable proof of your social security number. Remember, the photo id containing your social security number will not be accepted as proof of social security number. You must provide a separate document to show your social security number.
The creditors representatives and trustee are permitted to ask reasonable questions about your bankruptcy and what caused you to file. They will not be permitted to abuse you or be rude to you. Usually the questions they ask are answered in your petition or schedules. However, secured creditors often want to know if you wish to reassume the debt you owe them. If you do not want to reassume the debt and the creditor is a secured creditor you will be required to return the secured item or items to the creditor. This is generally true with purchase money security interests (NPMSI).
CHAPTER 7 MEETING OF CREDITORS
You will be required to provide your photo id and social security id before the meeting starts. If you do not have both id's with you the meeting will probably not be held and you will be required to attend another meeting of creditors at a later date. The type of questions you will be asked by the trustee are: have you filed bankruptcy before; what happened to cause you to file bankruptcy; did you meet with the an attorney to discuss your bankruptcy; was all of the information true and correct at the time you signed them; is the information true and correct today; have you read the U S Trustee's Information Sheet; how did you arrive at the fair market value of your home; have you sold any property including real property in the last few years; do you have the right to sue anyone either for a personal injury or money they may owe you; do you have a worker's compensation claim for an on the job injury; what are your intentions concerning your secured creditors; have you listed all of your creditors?
AFTER THE CHAPTER 7 MEETING OF CREDITORS
Generally, very little happens after the meeting of creditors if you are in a Chapter 7. If you have not done so yet, this is the time in which you sign reaffirmation agreements. You may be required to sign reaffirmation agreements for property that is subject to a PMSI; however, we strongly recommend you not reaffirm NPMSI unless you are trying to protect a cosigner or codebtor. We do not recommend you sign reaffirmation agreements with unsecured creditors. If you wish to reaffirm an unsecured creditor and you are not attempting to protect a co-debtor, you must have the reaffirmation agreement approved by the judge in your case.
