am I required to do any public speaking?

[JayJay]

During the BK processes, am I required to get up and speak out loud for any reason? I have a severe anxiety problem that I've had since childhood. It's not easy at all for me as it is natural for others...

[leftyf]

I'm not afraid of public speaking. I asked the Trustee if it would be ok if I could perform a spoken word for the other filers present in the room...he was not amused. Ok, just kidding (give me a break, I'm hanging around a bk forum on Saturday night.)

You will have to answer some questions but they will be yes or no answers. Your attorney will probably even tell you to only answer yes or no...I have a tendency to start offering further explanations, so I really had to control myself. Most likely, there will be 10-15 other people in the room mostly other filers and their attorneys.
I'm not trying to scare you, but as an anxiety sufferer myself, I should tell you that the "racing heart" thing did happen to me and I thought I might go into a full blown panic attack (I haven't had one in over a year thanks to some work I've been doing on trying to control them.) I'm sure my pulse rate was around 130 at some point during this.
That was pointless, the 341 lasted about 5 minutes. There were no hard questions...as long as you're being honest and there's nothing fishy about your case, it will be extremely easy. Of course, you never believe this until you've actually gone through it. Tons of people on this board talk about how easy it is, and I read a lot of these testimonies before going in. It's generally as easy as people on this board say.
Good luck,
lefty

[JayJay]

Thanks Lefty It's what I wanted to hear.

lol, I'm glad someone is in my shoes. I was always the kid in grade school to hide behind my text book when the teacher was calling on students for answers. It was horrible!

[danaf]

maybe a valium would help?

[AngelinaCat]

For the most part you will be asked 'yes' or 'no' questions. Just answer as appropriate. Do not volunteer anything. You may be asked for an explanation of something; just answer as simply as possible.

Also you will be sitting at a table with the trustee, his assistant, and hopefully your lawyer. You will not be standing facing anyone.

Good luck. Let us know how it goes.

[AngelinaCatHub]

The fact that we did not know what to expect, nor did we know what a 341 was until coming on this site, we were simply told that we had an appointment at such and such place and time and bring ID, SS, and in our case Marriage Cert.

So in our case, ignorance was bliss as we were never forwarned nor did we know the importance of this.

One reason I've a Motion to proceed pro se (that generated a hearing and probably stalled our discharge) is the fact of not bad communications but NO communications with our lawyer. I'm not angry with her as everything has gone fairly well with the complications we have, but I cannot afford to pay her extra, and have no line of communicaions whatever. I might even say, we have been pro se in blindness from day one. 'Hub

[momof5]

I am not one for public speaking either! I think the worst part for me was walking up to the table knowing that every single person in the room was watching. Just as I had watched the previous people walk up to the table. I made sure that I sat in between my husband and the lawyer. I turned my chair just a tad sideways so that I was facing the Trustee and could not see that there was a room full of people that were watching me and could hear me as I spoke. The Trustee did have to ask me to speak up but he was really nice about it and said it was because they were taping what we said.

Walking out of the room I avoided eye contact with the 'crowd' and headed straight for the door.

I will tell you that the questions were yes or no. So that was fairly easy. The Trustee did say a funny about why I didnt work outside the home and with 5 children he could see why. That moment of laughter helped so much.

Just keep reminding yourself that Trustees are just fellow people.

[HHM]

This post made me chuckle in the sense I was imagining what it would be like if you had to go to the 341 and it was like an AA meeting or something.

"Hello, my name is Joe, and I am Bankrupt"
"Hi Joe"


But rest assured, it is not like that. As others have pointed out, there will probably be other debtors in the room when you go up to talk to the trustee, but your conversation will be with the trustee, not with the room.

[Dennis1971]

We just had ours last week and let me tell you, you have nothing to worry about. I also don't like to speak in front of everybody. Its sorta funny, "HHM" hit it on the head in the previous post, its sorta like a AA meeting. Really everybody looked away, nobody wanted to be there, nobody wanted to be seen - including us! The questions are basically yes or no, there was a few open ended questions that our attorney warned us about that the trustee's use to fish for information. Don't fret it, it will be allright!
Good Luck Dennis

[liz417]

We just had ours last week and let me tell you, you have nothing to worry about. I also don't like to speak in front of everybody. Its sorta funny, "HHM" hit it on the head in the previous post, its sorta like a AA meeting. Really everybody looked away, nobody wanted to be there, nobody wanted to be seen - including us! The questions are basically yes or no, there was a few open ended questions that our attorney warned us about that the trustee's use to fish for information. Don't fret it, it will be allright!
Good Luck Dennis

I wonder how many people have gone to a 341 and recongized someone?!????
Alright, now I'm nervous....I don't know a lot of people because I've only lived in this small town a few years....but still!!!!

[WoodSprite]

Really everybody looked away, nobody wanted to be there, nobody wanted to be seen

Yep, exactly. JayJay, I lived with someone with an anxiety disorder and I get the difference between panic attacks and stage fright. But really, this is more like conducting a transaction with a bank teller while a bunch of people are in line behind you. As Momof5 said, the trustee probably will ask you to speak up, which is always unnerving, but it's just because they'll be taping it. So just be expecting that.

And I really was amazed at the TOTAL lack of contact among the debtors. There were about twenty of us standing around in a very narrow hallway before they unlocked the door, since our time slot was right after lunch (boy, was I glad to be there an hour early!). A very narrow hallway, right outside the men's room, and no place to sit. Wouldn't you think there'd be some conversation - gallows humor - something? Nada... not even eye contact! Every time a new scared-to-death person or couple rounded that corner and was confronted with this growing crowd, I'd smile and explain yes, they were in the right place, the door was locked, the trustee was late getting back from lunch - and everyone looked at me as if I had lost my mind. It was very weird...I guess I expected everyone there to be just like everyone here!

Anyway, try to believe that the people sitting behind you when you're up there are so tangled up in their own nerves that if they're listening, they're just like you, trying to hear what the trustee is going to ask THEM. They could care less about you.

Good luck, and please let us know how it goes.

[Cali]

OMG that made me spit my tea. LOL

This post made me chuckle in the sense I was imagining what it would be like if you had to go to the 341 and it was like an AA meeting or something.

"Hello, my name is Joe, and I am Bankrupt"
"Hi Joe"

[Dennis1971]

I wonder how many people have gone to a 341 and recongized someone?!????
Alright, now I'm nervous....I don't know a lot of people because I've only lived in this small town a few years....but still!!!!

Actually were from a small town too. We were nervous that we would see somebody we knew.
When we were sitting there, a guy came in and walked to the back row. Apparently he knew the guy that was sitting behind us, he told the guy hello and asked what he was doing there. You could tell the guy was a little aggravated and said that his name was out on the list too!

[justplaintired]

This post made me chuckle in the sense I was imagining what it would be like if you had to go to the 341 and it was like an AA meeting or something.

"Hello, my name is Joe, and I am Bankrupt"
"Hi Joe"


But rest assured, it is not like that. As others have pointed out, there will probably be other debtors in the room when you go up to talk to the trustee, but your conversation will be with the trustee, not with the room.

This is too funny!! I agree with Cali!

HHM thanks for a good laugh, matter of fact I'm still chuckling! LMAO

[justplaintired]

I wonder how many people have gone to a 341 and recongized someone?!????
Alright, now I'm nervous....I don't know a lot of people because I've only lived in this small town a few years....but still!!!!

You know instead of that making me nervous that would probably make me feel better. I mean if I knew someone else there that would mean their filing BK just like me.