Who Will Be Present at the Meeting of Creditors for Chapter 7?

26 November 2019
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Within 20 to 40 days of filing for Chapter 7 bankruptcy, you will receive notification about an upcoming hearing you must attend. This will likely be the only hearing you have to attend during your bankruptcy case, and it is called the meeting of creditors. This hearing is an important part of a Chapter 7 bankruptcy case, and you can expect the following people to be present at this meeting.

The trustee

The main person you should expect to meet for the first time and see at this hearing is a bankruptcy trustee. This person is someone the bankruptcy court appoints to handle your entire case, and this will be the person who scrutinizes your documents, information, and facts. You will have to stand before the trustee and take an oath to tell the truth, and then the hearing will begin. The trustee will likely ask you a series of basic questions, and these are questions he or she will ask every person that files for Chapter 7. The trustee may then ask you some unique questions that are only applicable to your personal situation.

Your lawyer

The second person that will be at this meeting is your lawyer. In fact, you should not offer any information to the trustee if your lawyer is not yet present. Your lawyer will be there to guide you with the meeting and with what to say. Your lawyer may step in and answer questions for you or explain certain things to the trustee that you might not know how to explain.

Creditors

While you should not expect your creditors to be present at this meeting, there is always a chance that one or more of them will show up. This meeting is called a meeting of creditors because your creditors are invited to attend. The only reason a creditor would attend, though, is if they want to challenge a discharge of the debt you owe them. In most situations, creditors do not have valid reasons and proof to challenge a debt a person owes, but there are times that they do, and they would show up to this meeting for this reason.

You must attend this hearing if you want to proceed with your bankruptcy case, and your lawyer will help you prepare for it. To learn more about what this meeting is for and its purpose, talk to a bankruptcy lawyer today. They'll be able to offer bankruptcy attorney services.