What Happens In a Santa Rosa Meeting of Creditors

If you live in Santa Rosa, Marin, Del Norte, Napa, Lake, Mendocino, Humboldt or Del Norte County your meeting of creditors generally will be held at 777 Sonoma Avenue, room #116, in Santa Rosa. There is free parking next to the building. However, in an open letter posted to the U.S. Court website on November 17, 2011, the presiding judge in Santa Rosa, Alan Jaroslovsky announced that beginning January 1, 2012, and extending through at least December 31, 2012, all Chapter 13 cases from Marin county will be filed and heard in San Francisco. The address for those hearings is 235 Pine Street, Suite 850, San Francisco.

Please arrange to be at the meeting about twenty to thirty minutes before your scheduled time because it takes time to get through building security. It’s important for you to have your driver’s license as well as your original social security. You may dress comfortably as there is no required dress code. You will not be meeting in a court room but in a hearing room, which is less formal and consists of a desk at the front of the room from which your Trustee will oversee the proceedings. He or she will conduct hearings every half hour, with groups of 5 people per period. Trustees are representatives of the U.S. Trustee and commonly have backgrounds in accounting or law. The trustees in Santa Rosa are Timothy W. Hoffman, Jeffry Locke and Linda Green. The job of the Trustee is to determine whether the petitions are accurate and properly prepared and to then decide whether or not there are assets available with which you could pay back your creditors. When they call your case, you‘ll approach the Trustee’s desk with your lawyer where they will swear you in. Because the meetings have audio recordings, you’ll need to speak loudly and clearly when responding to questions. The trustee will verify your identification, swear you in and then ask you general questions. The general questions are often the following:

• Did you review your petitions with your attorney before signing them and filing them with the bankruptcy court?


• Did you read and understood the petitions prepared by your attorney?


• Did you personally sign the petitions?


• Are the tax returns provided true and correct?


• Does anyone owe you money?


• Have you included all of your assets and liabilities in the petitions?


• Is all of the information contained in the petition and schedules true and correct?


• Are there any changes you need to bring to my attention?


• Did you include all of your assets and liabilities in the schedules?


• Have you ever filed for bankruptcy before?


• Do you have a domestic support obligation?


• Has anyone died since you filed for bankruptcy that might result in an inheritance for you?


• Do you understand that if someone dies within six months of the time that you file for bankruptcy and you are entitled to an inheritance that you are required to notify me?


• Have you paid any creditor more than $600 in the six months before filing for bankruptcy?

After the general questions, the Trustee will usually ask questions specific to your schedules. For example, he or she may ask you about your secured obligations and whether you intend to surrender or maintain possession of secured property, such as homes or cars. Once the questions from the Trustee and any creditors present have been asked and answered, the Trustee will announce that your meeting of creditors is concluded. Your creditors will have 60 days from that date to challenge the discharge of their debt. After the 60 days has passed with no challenges, your case will be discharged and your debts erased. . Please call our office with any other questions.

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