I had my 341 meeting today!

[LuciluS]

O sorry Forgot to Congratulate the OP on a smooth 341 hearing.

(((((((((((((((((((CONGRATULATIONS!))))))))))))))) )))

Luci

[music12]

i guess if you really really wanted, you could order tapes from a 341 meeting in your area. the trustees are supposed to keep them for 2 years. but i don't think anybody videotapes them.

or you could try to look up caselaw and see if any case has a transcript from someone's 341. but if someone's case becomes caselaw, then likely their 341 was not typical...

[debtmonster]

Don't think so. You will not get past Security with a Camera or a Cell Phone. And no, the security people will not 'hold' them for you. Have to walk back to your car and place the camera and/or cell phone in your car.

Don't know how far of a walk it is for you, but it's over 2 blocks from the Parking garage. Very limited parallel parking & we couldn't use it, as I need room in the rear of my van to get my scooter out as I cannot walk very far without it.

Is every single court room in America like this where you can't bring in a phone?!

[music12]

first, these are not held in courtrooms.

i had my cell with me. it depends on the building.

[debtmonster]

Where can I go so I can take live pictures of people doing their 341's?

[jadams]

Where can I go so I can take live pictures of people doing their 341's?

US Trustee Region 21 Page

If you go to that site and pick your closest office (the links are across the top right of the page), it will list the locations where the 341 Meetings are held for that office.

It will also give you contact information for that office so you could phone and ask if it would be allowed for you to film a meeting.

Courts tend to look upon recording proceedings as quite different than "open to the public" though, so I don't know if they'll allow it. I suspect since all of the videos I saw were reenactments, it's not straightforward to get permission. Otherwise wouldn't the lawyer just go film a real one?

I'd be interested to hear the result.

[debtmonster]

Another thing... why do they wait 60 days for? Why waste any time? Why not just do it in 15-30 days? What's the advantage of waiting 60 days for a discharge? Who does this benefit?

[music12]

WHY do you want pictures of people doing their 341's? just because it's public doesn't mean that doing this won't be an invasion of someone's privacy. it's bad enough filing for bk, no reason to make it worse by putting someone's 341 on youtube.

[music12]

Another thing... why do they wait 60 days for? Why waste any time? Why not just do it in 15-30 days? What's the advantage of waiting 60 days for a discharge? Who does this benefit?

it's a good question. if you really want to know the answer, you'd have to go research the legislative history of the 60 day rule and find out why congress thought 60 days was a good timeframe.

i think 60 days allows some time for creditors to talk to a debtor's lawyer before filing an AP; if the timeframe were too short, creditors would just file the AP to preserve their rights and talk later, and only then perhaps realize there is no merit to their AP and drop it. having time to talk first i think reduces the number of APs actually filed.

[debtmonster]

just because it's public doesn't mean that doing this won't be an invasion of someone's privacy. it's bad enough filing for bk, no reason to make it worse by putting someone's 341 on youtube.

If there was an issue with privacy, they wouldn't make bankruptcy public record for all to see.

Think of it this way... if you're on Youtube for your 341 and get a million hits, it's like you'll be a celebrity!

[lrprn]

Our local courthouse made everyone who entered give up cellphones and any other metallic objects before entering, and then had us walk through a metal detector and sent our belongings through a scanner as well. Praytell, how are you going to "make someone famous" without your metal recording device that will be confiscated before you can get much past the front courthouse door?

Also I hate to break it to you, DM, although bk filings are public, courthouse 341 meeting rooms are *not* considered a public place where anyone can be photographed, audiotaped, or videotaped without their prior written permission.

Knowing that you believe secretly videotaping a stranger's 341 meeting to post it on YouTube thinking that the persons you pick at random would be happy you violated their privacy because "they would be famous" is personally repugnant.

Since you think this is such a great idea, then why not try to videotape *your own* 341 and post it for the world to see? If you succeed (which you won't because no judge, trustee, or lawyer would ever sign a waiver allowing it), then enjoy your 15 seconds of fame.

[music12]

i agree with lrprn. if you want to violate somebody's privacy, do it to yourself.

[SocalBroke]

Congrats!

[debtmonster]

I had no idea it was like Fort Knox to get in. That's awful.

[jadams]

Another thing... why do they wait 60 days for? Why waste any time? Why not just do it in 15-30 days? What's the advantage of waiting 60 days for a discharge? Who does this benefit?

It benefits the creditors. They have rights too. We are being granted relief at their cost.

I personally think giving them 60 days post-341 to prepare and file any objections is a fair trade for the legal stopping power of a discharge.

In theory a creditor's attorney would want to come to the "Meeting of the Creditors" to learn about your assets, their potential distribution, and ask questions under oath. Then the attorney has to meet with his clients to discuss the results of the meeting. They need to make a decision. If they wish to object then the lawyer needs time to prepare the paperwork. Then they have to meet again for the client to approve the paperwork, etc.

It's quite common in any legal matter to give decent timeframes -- I was going back and forth with a creditor that sued me because legally each side had 45 days to prepare and serve a reply to each request we made. It took a long time for anything to happen.

But if I hadn't been afforded the right to 45 days, I wouldn't have been able to reply to several of the requests the other side made. Life got in the way, and it was a lot of paperwork.

If you were a creditor's attorney handling 1000's of BK filings, I would suspect it would be quite difficult to properly deal with your duties with a short deadline like 15 days.