The three toughest questions at your bankruptcy Zoom hearing.

The three toughest bankruptcy hearing questions are NOT what most people expect.  The bankruptcy trustee does NOT ask you to explain how you got into this mess. They are not asking about your plans for the future.  And the creditors are NOT there demanding their money.

Have You Sent the Bank Statements?

Have you sent in the bank statements showing how much money you had on the day we sent the papers into the court?

So what are the hard questions? For most people, the toughest bankruptcy hearing question is: Have you sent us all your bank statements, showing the balance on the day you filed your case? Especially if you have old accounts you don’t think about because you never use them–getting those bank statements in can be a tough challenge.

Can You Find The Mute Button?

The next tough question is, can you find the mute button on your Zoom?

Why is the mute button important?  When the bankruptcy trustee opens their waiting room and lets people in, you will be set to mute.  Mute is where you want to be when the trustee is explaining the procedure and calling the roll.  But you need to practice turning your mute button off and on, so when its our turn you can turn off the mute and talk!

There will be almost thirty people on the trustee’s Zoom screen.   About twenty people filing bankruptcy, maybe eight lawyers, plus the trustee and helper.  

Everybody needs to be on mute when it’s not their turn. Otherwise the background noise–fans, computer noise, barking dogs, crying children, fire trucks–the background noise makes it impossible to hear.  So, be sure you can find and use the mute button.

Can I Whisper to My Lawyer?

The third toughest bankruptcy hearing question is your question, not a bankruptcy trustee question. Your question is, how do I talk to my lawyer?

When you Zoom in to the trustee waiting room and hearing, you don’t know that whether I’m there.  (And I don’t know if you’re there, either.) That’s the biggest disadvantage to doing these on Zoom

You for sure want to know I’m there and you might have a last minute question, too. You can’t ask me a question out in the hall because there is no hall.

We can’t whisper–because we are broadcasting to the whole room. That why we need to email each other ten minutes before the hearing starts.

I’ll shoot you an email letting you now I’m on. Please reply. And email any last minute questions. Use robertrossweed@gmail.com. That goes straight to me.

(We’ve been doing these bankruptcy trustee hearings by zoom for ten months now. And I overhear a lawyer whispering with their client about one a week. And of course the whole room hears it.  So far I haven’t overheard anything really bad–like, I’m sure glad they didn’t ask about that farm in Kentucky. Anyway, you and I won’t do that. We know to whisper by email.)