Yes, you will have to go to the courthouse at least once for the Meeting of Creditors hearing.  This meeting is usually held about a month after your bankruptcy petition is filed with the court.  This hearing gives your creditors and the bankruptcy trustee an opportunity to ask you questions under oath regarding your assets and liabilities.  This meeting is informal, meaning a judge does not preside over the hearing and it may not even be held in an actual courtroom.  Instead, the bankruptcy trustee or bankruptcy administrator directs this meeting.

Your attendance at the Meeting of Creditors is mandatory.  You will receive a notice in the mail from the bankruptcy court, usually within a week of filing, giving you the date and time that you must attend this hearing.  You can usually expect to be at this meeting anywhere from 10 minutes to an hour.  It really depends on where you fall on the docket for that day.

You should receive instructions from your attorney on what to bring to this meeting.  If you have filed a chapter 13, it is important that you make at least one payment prior to this meeting and bring proof of that payment with you to court. 

Written by:  Mary Conner Pool – Bond, Botes, Shinn & Donaldson, P.C. (Montgomery & Selma)