Congratulations, your bankruptcy has been filed. Now you have your meeting of creditors, sometimes called your 341 meeting. When your bankruptcy is filed, your case is randomly assigned to a local judge and a trustee.
The trustee’s job is to manage the case and, if it’s a Chapter 7 case, determine if there are any assets to liquidate and pay creditors. If it’s a Chapter 12 or Chapter 13 case, the trustee will receive your bankruptcy plan payments and pay the creditors.
The trustee (or a staff attorney from the trustee’s office) will oversee the creditor’s meeting. You should get a letter from the United States Bankruptcy Court that gives you the date and time of the meeting, along with a reminder to bring two forms of ID.
The first form has to be a picture ID like a state ID card, driver’s license, or passport. That is to make sure that you are the person seated in front of the trustee. The other form of ID has a full social security number on it. This form of ID can’t be prepared by you (like tax returns), and is usually a W2 from an employer, a social security card, or a Medicare card that contains a full social. The social security card cannot be a copy or scan, only an original.
It seems silly, but people do occasionally steal social security numbers and even file bankruptcies under false social security numbers. The form of ID also makes sure that the number in the bankruptcy schedules is correct, so creditors notate the correct accounts.
We might ask our clients to bring other information to the meeting, but for a 341 meeting of creditors, always have these two forms of IDs ready to go, or else your case will be continued to a later date for you to show up again with correct identification.
By Ryan A. Blay, W M Law Attorney
