Will Creditors Show Up to My 341 Meeting?

A question often asked by bankruptcy petition filers is, do creditors show for the meeting when filing for bankruptcy? In many cases, individuals are worried about facing creditors. What would they say? Would this creditor have the ability to stop the bankruptcy process? The 341 meeting or the Meeting of the Creditors, is a meeting in which the creditors have the right to attend. However, in most cases, they do not attend.

Why Creditors Do Not Attend

In most types of Chapter 7 bankruptcy, creditors do not attend these meetings because the case is a no asset case. This means that the person who is filing bankruptcy has few assets that are not protected under bankruptcy exemptions. But, why do creditors avoid coming to such an important meeting?

• In most cases, creditors in these bankruptcy cases do not want to pay attorneys to attend the meetings because the meetings are not going to result in any benefit to the creditor. If you do not have assets to seize, there are few benefits.
• In cases of Chapter 13 bankruptcy, most secured debts and priority debts are being repaid during the bankruptcy. Therefore, there are few assets to seize to repay other creditors.
• In other cases, the write off the creditor gets for the bad debt is bigger than the amount of money the creditor would get had he or she fought the case in a court of law.

Creditors are likely to come if they believe you are hiding assets, have more income than you are presenting on your bankruptcy documents or believe you are otherwise misleading the court. It is rare for this to happen, but it can happen if you are dishonest in your documentation.

If the creditor does come and he or she does present such evidence, you will have the opportunity to refute the information both during the 341 meeting and later through documentation presented to the courts. In other situations, the bankruptcy trustee may waive off these claims especially if the creditor cannot substantiate them.

Hiring an Attorney

Because of the potential for creditors to come to the 341 meeting, it is always a good idea to have a professional attorney prepare your bankruptcy filing and to present it to the court. In addition to this, your attorney will represent you within a court of law should any creditors be present. In most cases, you will remain protected with an attorney’s aid.