Matteson Bankruptcy Lawyer & The Trustee’s Meeting

A Bankruptcy trustee is appointed by the court in most jurisdictions to determine whether or not a debtor is eligible for discharge and whether the debtor has any assets that he or she can liquidate for the benefit of creditors.  Determining whether or not a debtor is eligible is, at first blush, a very easy thing insofar as confirming where the debtor lives, and verifying the debtor’s identity, and seeing whether or not the debtor has filed any prior bankruptcies in the last eight years.  Once that is ascertained to the best of the trustee’s knowledge, the rest of the inquiry is really one of determining whether or not the debtor has any assets, and whether or not the debtor has committed fraud on such a massive scale that he or she is not entitled to a discharge.  The meeting in front of the trustee lasts typically from five to ten minutes.  The debtor is accompanied by his attorney, and in very few instances, is visited at the meeting of creditors by aggrieved creditors.  Nowadays, most creditors will conduct their business through the mail and in pleadings filed with the court.  Provided the debtor has not engaged in any kind of fraudulent conduct, he will likely receive a discharge and begin a new financial life.  However, if the debtor has engaged in fraud, a creditor or the trustee may bring an action to hold either a portion or all of the debtor’s debts to be non-dischargeable.