After we file your bankruptcy petition you must attend a hearing. Once we conclude the hearing, in most cases, your bankruptcy is complete. In 60 days you receive a letter from the Court saying your discharge has been granted and your case is closed.
But there is one thing you need to do before your case can be over: You need to complete your course in Financial Management. There is a requirement that you complete a post-petition instructional course concerning personal financial management. You may do this with the same company that you used for the pre-petition credit counseling. You should not wait to do this. I like to have it completed before the hearing.
After you complete the course please send me the certificate of completion. I will then send you form B23 for your signature. After you sign B23 I will file the papers with the bankruptcy court.
The location of the hearings for San Diego cases is the Emerald Plaza Building at 402 W. Broadway Suite 1360 (A) Hearing Room A. Just come up to the 13th floor and you will see a sign pointing you in the right direction.
Parking is very expensive so you might want to park at a a meter.
This is important: Be sure to use the C Street entrance on the north side of the building (otherwise you will wind up in the hotel). .
You need to bring a government issued photo ID (usually this will be your driver's license). You also need to bring proof of your social security number. Most people bring their social security card. But, if you can't find it, you can also bring your tax return if it was prepared by a third party. If you fail to birng proof of your social security number the trustee will not conclude the meeting. Usually the trustee will tell you to go the local social secuirty office and get tempoary proof of your social security number.
You also need to fill out a questionnaire that is around 5 pages long. I always try to send a blank questionnaire to my clients before the hearing so it can be filled out beforehand. There is an information sheet you are supposed to read before the hearing. I will send that to you also.
Each hearing usually only lasts a few minutes. But we never know how long it will take the trustee to get to our case. So sometimes we are there for hours. Usually, however, we are in and out in around an hour.
Before the hearing I will talk to you about what questions I expect the trustee to ask you. The trustee will always ask you if you have read, understood and signed the papers. He will ask you if there are any changes you would like to make. He will ask you if everything is correct. Please use your common sense to answer those questions.
In most cases there are some particular issues the trustee will ask about. I try to warn you in advance about those issues so that you are already prepared with your answer.
Before the hearing I always try to supply the trustee with all the documents I think we need to support our case. For example, we need to show the value of your home and how much you owe on it.
On occasion, the trustee will ask for additional documentation. Sometimes he will ask me to make a change in your bankruptcy petition or schedules and return for a second meeting in 3 or 4 weeks. Most often the trustee will tell us that if I supply the necessary document or make the requested change then we don't have to attend that additional hearing.
Once in a while a creditor will show up. If the creditor is a non institutional creditor, for example, a tradesman that has a claim, he might try to ask inappropriate questions or even attempt to harass you at the hearing. I will be there to protect your interests.