Your 341 Meeting of Creditors

What happens, and how to join it on Zoom.

Your case is filed, and about a month later you will have a meeting of creditors — usually called a 341 meeting, after the section of the Bankruptcy Code that requires it.

It is short, it is administrative, and it is not a hearing. There is no judge. You will answer questions under oath from the trustee assigned to your case, and in most consumer cases no creditor shows up at all. Everything here describes practice in the Tampa Division of the Middle District of Florida.

Every 341 meeting in Chapter 7, 12 and 13 is now held on Zoom.

The one thing to get right: you are expected to appear by video. Joining by phone only will, in the government’s own words, likely result in your meeting being rescheduled — which delays everything behind it, including your discharge. If your device or your internet is uncertain, sort it out the day before, not the morning of.

Everything you need — the Meeting ID, the Passcode, and the dial-in number — is in section 7 of your Notice of Bankruptcy Case.

Questions about your own meeting? (813) 231-2088.

Jump to a section

1. What the meeting actually is
2. What you need before the day
3. Where your Meeting ID and Passcode are
4. Joining on a phone or tablet
5. Joining on a computer
6. Joining by audio only — and what it costs
7. What happens once you are in
8. If something goes wrong

Part 1: What the meeting actually is

Short answer: a short conversation with the trustee, under oath, about the paperwork you already filed.

The Bankruptcy Code requires the trustee to convene a meeting where creditors may appear and question you. In practice, in ordinary consumer cases, they usually do not. The trustee runs it.

There is no judge, and it does not take place in a courtroom. The trustee is not your opponent — their job is to review your schedules, verify who you are, and ask whether anything has changed.

Most consumer 341 meetings take a few minutes. They feel anticlimactic, which is the correct outcome.

What makes them go badly is almost never the questions. It is showing up in a way the trustee cannot accept — wrong name on screen, no video, no identification — and having to come back another day.

The law behind this: 11 U.S.C. § 341(a) (the United States trustee shall convene a meeting of creditors); 11 U.S.C. § 343 (the debtor shall appear and submit to examination under oath); 11 U.S.C. § 547 (preferential transfers, including a one-year reach-back for payments to insiders) and 11 U.S.C. § 548 (transfers within two years before filing) — the source of the transfer and repayment questions in Part 7.

Part 2: What you need before the day

A device with a camera, a microphone, speakers, and internet. A smartphone, tablet, laptop or desktop all work.

On a smartphone, you must install the Zoom app. There is no browser option on a phone. Install it before the day.

On a tablet, laptop or desktop, you can either install the app or join through the Zoom website.

Test it the day before. Zoom has a test meeting at zoom.us/test that takes two minutes and tells you whether your camera and microphone work. This is the single highest-value thing on this page.

Your identification is already handled. Your photo ID and proof of your Social Security number go to us before filing, and we submit them to the trustee in advance. It is uncommon for a trustee to ask to see your ID on camera, and you will never be asked to hold up your Social Security card — nobody should ever ask you to display that on a video call. Have your ID nearby anyway, in case.

Plug in. Do not run the meeting on a dying battery.

Somewhere quiet, with decent signal. If your home internet is weak, a wired connection beats wi-fi, and being nearer the router beats being further away.

Part 3: Where your Meeting ID and Passcode are

section 7 of your Notice of Bankruptcy Case.

That notice is mailed to you after filing, and it contains three things you need:

• the 10-digit Meeting ID
• the Passcode
• the phone number for audio-only access

If you cannot find the notice, the same information is published by the United States Trustee Program at justice.gov/ust/moc.

If you still cannot find it, call us before the day of the meeting rather than the morning of it.

Part 4: Joining on a phone or tablet

The Zoom app is required on a smartphone. Install it from the App Store or Google Play — search “Zoom Workplace.” The free version is all you need.

1. Open Zoom and tap Join Meeting.
2. Enter the 10-digit Meeting ID from your notice.
3. Enter your full legal name in the name field. If it already shows something — “iPhone,” a nickname, someone else’s name — delete it and type your full name. The trustee identifies you from that field and cannot call a case they cannot find.
4. Enter the Passcode and tap Continue or Join Meeting.
5. A screen appears about the FBI investigating bankruptcy crimes. Read it and tap Agree.
6. You land in a virtual waiting room until the trustee admits you.

Once you are in, your phone may ask for permissions. Allow the microphone and the camera. Decline notifications and Siri — you do not need them and they interrupt.

Then mute yourself and wait. When the trustee calls your case, unmute and turn your video on.

Part 5: Joining on a computer

You can use the app, or the website. There is one trap on the website route.

1. Go to zoom.us/join in your browser.
2. Enter the 10-digit Meeting ID and click Join.
3. A screen appears with a blue Launch Meeting button. Do not click it. Underneath, there is a smaller link that says “Join from Your Browser.” Click that one.
4. Read the FBI investigates bankruptcy crimes screen and click Agree.
5. Join audio using the headset icon, then enter the Passcode and your full legal name.
6. Click Join to enter the waiting room.

That blue button is the most common way people end up stuck. It tries to launch software they may not have installed. The small link below it is the one that works in the browser.

Part 6: Joining by audio only — and what it costs

Short answer: you can, but expect your meeting to be rescheduled.

You are generally expected to appear by video. If you join by phone only, the government’s guidance is explicit that your meeting will likely be moved to another date so you can appear on camera.

That is not a penalty. It is because the trustee has to verify who you are, and they cannot do that over a phone line.

When audio-only is the right call:

• You have no device with a camera and no internet access at all. Join by audio and tell the trustee why — they can allow a telephone appearance case by case if the circumstances warrant it.
• Your video fails on the day. Join by audio anyway rather than not appearing, and tell the trustee what happened. Being present matters.
• Creditors and other interested parties may join by audio without any of this applying to them.

If you do dial in:

1. Call the number in section 7 of your notice.
2. Enter the Passcode followed by #.
3. Say your full name followed by #, then wait in the virtual waiting room.
4. Once the hold music stops, you are in. Mute with *6.
5. When the trustee asks for you, unmute with *6 and give your first and last name.
6. *9 raises your hand if you need to get the trustee’s attention.

A continued meeting normally uses the same Meeting ID and Passcode unless the trustee says otherwise.

Part 7: What happens once you are in

Log in about five minutes early and wait to be called. Several meetings are often scheduled for the same time slot, and the trustee takes them in order. Stay connected and stay muted. If the trustee is running behind, they may say so in the chat.

Your case gets called. Unmute, turn on your video.

You are placed under oath. Your identification has normally already been submitted through us, so this is usually a formality.

You answer questions, and they are about what you already filed. The ones that matter most:

• What your assets are worth. Not what you paid, what they are worth now.
• Whether everything in your paperwork is accurate and complete, and whether anything has changed since you signed it.
• Whether you sold, transferred or gave away anything of significant value in the last two years.
• Whether you repaid a loan to a family member or someone close to you in the year before filing.

Those last two are the ones that matter, and they are the reason we ask about them long before anything is filed. If one of them applies to you, you will know it — and you will know what it means — well before we file your case. Nobody should learn what a preference is from a trustee.

Answer honestly, and answer short. Most of these are yes-or-no questions and they deserve yes-or-no answers. Telling the truth is not optional and never negotiable — but volunteering a paragraph where a word will do is how a three-minute meeting turns into a continued one. If more detail is needed, you will be asked for it, and your attorney is there.

Creditors almost never appear. When one does, it is usually a large sum, a personal debt tied to an ex-spouse, or a creditor who is angry in a way that is more personal than financial.

Then it is over. The trustee either concludes the meeting or continues it if something is outstanding.

If you are represented, your attorney is in the meeting with you. You are not doing this alone.

Part 8: If something goes wrong

Audio or video not working. Plug in any external camera or microphone before opening Zoom. Only one microphone and speaker should be live in a room, or you get feedback. Check that your device volume is up and not just Zoom’s.

Connection struggling. Use a wired connection if your router offers one. Move closer to the router. Close everything else — and ask anyone at home to stop streaming for ten minutes.

You cannot get in at all. Join by audio using the number in section 7 rather than missing the meeting, and tell the trustee what happened. Do not simply not appear. A missed meeting can put your case at risk; a technical problem you reported is an inconvenience.

You need to show a document. Screen sharing is possible, but the trustee controls it — ask during the meeting.

You cannot find your notice. The Meeting ID and Passcode are published at justice.gov/ust/moc.

And call us. If you are our client and something is going wrong on the day, call the office. That is what we are here for.

The day before

1. Run the Zoom test at zoom.us/test. Camera, microphone, speakers.
2. Install the app if you are joining on a phone. It is required there.
3. Find your Notice of Bankruptcy Case and put section 7 somewhere you can see it.
4. Set out your identification.
5. Plan where you will sit — quiet, decent signal, device on power.
6. Set an alarm. Meetings start on time even when they run long.

(813) 231-2088 if anything on this page does not match what you received.

About this article

Written by Alan Dexter Borden, a Florida consumer bankruptcy attorney admitted to The Florida Bar in 2008 and admitted in all three of Florida’s federal districts.

Last reviewed: September 12, 2026.

This article describes the procedure published by the United States Trustee Program and is general information, not legal advice about your case. Procedures change. If anything here differs from the notice you received or from what your trustee tells you, follow the notice and the trustee.