What to Expect in Your 341 Meeting

Firstly, all Ohio bankruptcy 341s are held over Zoom. It’s common to attend the meeting from your own home, but you can come into your attorney’s office as well. If you are one of our clients and wish to come in office, you just need to let us know.

The meeting is a Court hearing and you need to treat it as such. That means that you should not wear hats or inappropriate clothing. Wear what you would wear in person to Court. You would probably be surprised at how many people have to be chastised by the Trustee for wearing inappropriate clothing. Or worse, not even wearing a shirt.

You need to be in a stable location with no one else present. You can take the meeting from a car, but it cannot be in motion. It needs to be parked. At home you should be seated. Don’t be in the meeting while laying down. You need to be visible on camera and your sound working, both for you to hear and the Trustee to hear you.

You need to download Zoom before the meeting. You will open the app on your computer, phone, or tablet and select to join. Copy and paste or type in the meeting ID and make sure your name is listed below the meeting ID. On the next page you will copy and paste or type in the passcode. Then follow the prompts and you will be put in the waiting room.

From here, each Trustee handles things differently. Some Trustees will bring everyone in the meeting and you will wait until it’s your turn and be able to observe the other meetings. Some Trustees will send you to a separate breakout rooms and you will wait until it’s your turn. Some Trustees will leave you in the waiting room until it is your turn so it will just be you and your attorney in the meeting.

If you are brought in and are waiting until it is your turn, leave your camera off and microphone muted. You will turn these on when it is your turn. Moving the mouse over the screen or tapping the screen will show video and microphone icons. By pressing these you can turn your camera and microphone on and off.

There are typically several meetings scheduled for every half hour or hour session. You could be called at any point during that session. Some times the meetings run behind for various reasons. Be patient. If there is an issue, your attorney will let you know.

The meeting itself is mostly for verification questions. If you filed jointly with a spouse, one of you should speak first followed by the other. Before the meeting decide on the order you will speak. Make sure you speak loud enough that you can be heard. You should not have side conversations with each other. You should only address the Trustee or your attorney.

The beginning of the meeting is simple. The Trustee will place you under oath and ask some basic questions. These questions can include your name, address, and age. The Trustee will also ask if you read and understood the bankruptcy information sheet. Your attorney will have provided this to you. If you are a Conley Law client, we shared this with you in the portal. You should say yes that you read and understood it. If you say no, your meeting may be continued to a new date. If you have questions, ask your attorney before the meeting.

Next the Trustee will ask you questions about your financial situation. These will match the questions you had to answer to prepare your petition. Most of your answers should be yes or no, or simple answers like stating the year, make, and model of your vehicle. Try not to provide extra details. This will speed up the process. If the Trustee needs extra information, they will ask for it.

Each Trustee is different on what they will ask you. But they should all be easy for you to answer. For example, they will ask about your employment and sources of income, real estate and vehicles that you have owned, bank accounts, if the provided tax returns are a true and accurate copy, and if you transferred anything.

It is very common to be nervous for the 341. But there shouldn’t be any reason to be nervous. If you were truthful and disclosed everything to your bankruptcy attorney, they will have warned you about any potential issue before you filed.

The Trustee may ask for some additional documents. This is not necessarily an issue. In most cases it is just to verify information. If there is a problem, your attorney will let you know. Even then, there are usually solutions your attorney can come up with.

That’s the end for the 341 overview. Hopefully this puts you at ease going forward. If you are a client and have any questions, please reach out.

You can watch a video of this information here.