Question 1 at the 341 Meeting of Creditors: Did you sign the bankruptcy petition?
This is a first in my series of posts about questions are going to be asked at the 341 meeting of creditors. The 341 meeting of creditors is required whether you file Chapter 7 or Chapter 13 bankruptcy.
The first question you will be asked after stating your name for the record and showing your drivers license and Social Security card is: “Did you sign the petition, schedules, statements, and related documents and is the signature your own?”
Essentially, the trustee is asking you did you read the documents and is this your signature. They will ask your attorney to show you the signature on the third page of the bankruptcy filing. The answer to this question is yes. Your attorney should have gone over these documents with you before you sign them, answered any questions that you had, and if they didn’t witness the document being signed, they should have at least had the signed pages in their possession before they filed the case.
I have never once had a client answer no. I had one say once that he wasn’t sure the trustee treated him like an idiot for the rest of the meeting. Most people sign their name and the signature changes a little bit but you should at least be able recognize their own handwriting. Your attorney should give you a copy of the bankruptcy filing on the day that you sign it, so you should have your own copy at the 341 meeting and there should be no doubt that that your signature is on it.
The next part of this question is more important. “Did you read the petition, schedules, statements, and related documents before you signed them?” The trustee is basically asking did your attorney go over the documents with you. There are some trustees that like to single out attorneys that have moved into the electronic age and don’t acquire their clients to drive to their office in order to sign documents by saying: “Did you meet with your attorney at his or her office. “ This will put the attorney in the awkward position of explaining that he runs a modern office and can do things like electronically because we have things called computers and the internet now. That isn’t your problem but it’s something you should be aware of in case we run to one of these curmudgeons at 341 meeting.
The reality is that you better be sure what you are signing on what you are doing before your Chapter 13 or Chapter 7 bankruptcy attorney files your case. You also better make sure that the information in these documents are correct. While it’s true that you have hired your attorney to guide you through the bankruptcy process, and your attorney will do the lion’s share of the work, only you will know the personal data that should go on these documents and it’s your responsibility to make sure that it is correct.
I have never had a client say that they did not understand what they were signing. I like to think that’s because I’m good at explaining what each document means and because I go through page by page line by line and require my client to initial the lower right-hand corner of each page of the bankruptcy filing before the cases filed
If you find yourself at the point where you’re ready to file your case and you’re speaking to your attorney and you’re going over the documents and you don’t understand something it is up to you to bring it up. Ask your attorney to question and keep asking until you have a satisfactory answer, remember your attorney is there to make sure your bankruptcy goes smoothly, and if it requires a little extra time at the beginning of the case to avoid problems as the case proceeds, you should both appreciate it. If your attorney doesn’t appreciate this you may want toconsider getting other representation before you file the case.
Normally this question takes 30 seconds or less and is one of the easier questions to deal with, but I can see where an unprepared attorney or unprepared client could make this question one with hair-raising.
The whole theme of this site is better results because of better preparation. It starts right here with question number one of the 341 meeting.
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