Who Attends My Kennesaw Bankruptcy Hearing?

Hi, this is Roger Ghai and I get questions as to who is required to attend my bankruptcy hearing. In fact, believe it or not, clients will call me, asking me whether they have to attend their hearing. The answer is yes. As a client, as the person filing the bankruptcy case, you are required to appear in court for what we call a 341 examination. That’s just basically a situation where you are put under oath.
I don’t want to intimidate you or scare you or anything like that, but assuming that you’ve got a good bankruptcy lawyer and everything was properly filed, you’re going to be raising your right hand at the hearing, swearing to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth at that proceeding that afternoon or morning or day, whatever time of day it is, and you’re going to be asked certain questions about the information in your bankruptcy petition.
The only one that can answer those questions is going to be you, so yes, you are required to attend. No one else is required to attend. It has to be conducted by a Chapter 7 trustee who just wants to make sure that the laws are complied with them, that you in fact, do qualify for bankruptcy. Sometimes, one of your creditors might appear at the hearing.
For example, if you’ve got a mortgage on a house, that creditor might appear at the hearing to present what’s known as a new contract to you so that you can go ahead and keep the house or maybe there’s a representative from a motor vehicle company, Ford Motor Credit or Chrysler or whoever you finance your car with, that might appear at the hearing to make sure that you still have insurance on the vehicle, will add to find out who’s driving the vehicle, where the vehicle’s stored, those types of questions.
Other than that, there are not very many creditors who actually appear at the hearing. If you have questions about the bankruptcy process or about the process that happens at the meeting of creditor’s hearing, call my office place at 770-792-1000.