The North Carolina Bankruptcy Information Blog

@font-face { font-family: “Times”; }@font-face { font-family: “ＭＳ 明朝”; }@font-face { font-family: “Cambria Math”; }@font-face { font-family: “Georgia”; }p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal { margin: 0in 0in It’s that time of year again: baseball season. The smell of freshly-cut grass, the crack of the bat, the seventh inning stretches to the sound of the organ and the smell of a hot dog.

It’s also time for another great bankruptcy metaphor.

A personal bankruptcy can be just like a baseball game. Bankruptcy is ultimately an adversarial process during which there are many players on the field competing to achieve a fair and balanced result.…

If you’re considering bankruptcy, you may be wondering about the nuts and bolts of the bankruptcy process. One part of this process is the 341 meeting.  After filing your Chapter 13 or Chapter 7 bankruptcy, you are REQUIRED to attend a meeting of your creditors, otherwise known as a “341 meeting.” Named for section 341 of the bankruptcy code that mandates a meeting between a bankruptcy bound debtor and creditors, it normally occurs three to six weeks after your bankruptcy filing. If you fail to attend the 341, it may result in the dismissal of your case.

Purpose of the 341

Despite the fact that the 341 meeting is not attended by a judge, nor conducted in a courtroom, it is part of the bankruptcy legal process, meant to ensure that you openly and honestly represented your assets, debts, and disposable income in your bankruptcy petition.…

Part of understanding bankruptcy is knowing who the professionals are that you will meet and deal with along the way. From your attorney to even your creditors, it helps provide a solid foundation of comfort to actually understand the role of those who are playing a role in your financial future.

One of those individuals is the case Trustee, the most prominent member of the bankruptcy process. And, the involvement you have with the case trustee depends on which chapter of bankruptcy you are filing.

As you may know, the 2 main “chapters” are 7 and 13. Well over 95% of all bankruptcy cases filed are filed under Chapter 7 or Chapter 13.…

In a recent post, we talked a little about the “Meeting of Creditors.” That got us to thinking, are there other terms and steps along the way that we could help you better understand if you are still considering filing bankruptcy? And, does the blog mention or gloss over some terms that leave you with questions? So, we decided to put together a brief glossary of bankruptcy terms and jargon that might help get a better idea of how this whole thing works.

• Automatic stay: A court action that holds your creditors at bay upon filing bankruptcy.
• Collateral:An asset that backs up a specific debt.For example, in the most fundamental sense, your house backs up a mortgage loan.

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For some people who are ready to file for bankruptcy, the prospect of going through the “341 meeting” looms dauntingly. The meeting gets its name from the section of the bankruptcy code that outlines the requirement, 11. U.S.C. 341, but you may hear it also called the “first meeting of creditors.”  Within ten days of your filing, the court will send notice to your creditors, and one purpose of this notice is to set the date for the 341 meeting. The meeting itself will generally occur between 20 and 40 days of your bankruptcy filing.  The meeting is supposed to be attended by you, your attorney, the trustee, and creditors, if any decide to show.…