The 341 meeting is a short question-and-answer session with the trustee assigned to your case, and in Nevada it happens over Zoom. There is no judge, creditors almost never show up, and most of the questions are simply about whether the paperwork you already signed is accurate.
It happens about a month after you file
Federal Rule of Bankruptcy Procedure 2003 requires the meeting to be held no fewer than 21 days and no more than 40 days after the order for relief, which in a voluntary case is the day you file. A date three to six weeks out is the rule at work, not a problem with your case.
In Nevada you attend by video, not in person
Since June 2024, the United States Trustee for Region 17, which covers Nevada, has held Chapter 7 section 341 meetings by Zoom. You will be asked to provide a government-issued photo ID and confirmation of your Social Security number ahead of time. Send those in early. If your identity cannot be verified, the meeting gets continued, which pushes everything behind it.
There is no judge in the room
Section 341(c) of the Bankruptcy Code says the court "may not preside at, and may not attend" the meeting. The United States Trustee convenes it, and in practice the panel trustee assigned to your case does the questioning. You are under oath, because section 343 requires you to appear and submit to examination under oath, and the meeting is recorded. It is not a trial, though, and nobody is trying to catch you out.
The questions are narrower than most people expect
The trustee confirms the signature on the petition is yours, that you read it before signing, and that it is true and complete as far as you know. After that, the questions follow whatever is in your schedules.
What the trustee is actually looking for
Brian D. Shapiro serves as a Chapter 7 panel trustee in the District of Nevada, so this part comes from the other side of the table. The trustee's job is to find assets that are not exempt and can be sold to pay creditors. The usual candidates are a vehicle with more equity than the exemption covers, a tax refund you have earned but not yet received, a personal injury claim you have not filed, and property you signed over to a relative shortly before filing. In most consumer Chapter 7 cases there is nothing to administer and the trustee files a no-asset report. But the trustee still has to ask, and an honest answer to an uncomfortable question is almost always less trouble than a vague one.
Equity is what matters, not value. If you own a house in Henderson worth $450,000 with a $380,000 mortgage, that $70,000 of equity sits far inside the $605,000 Nevada homestead exemption under NRS 115.010. A paid-off car is a different calculation, because the vehicle exemption is set by statute and adjusts periodically, so the real question is your equity measured against whatever the figure is on the day you file.
Two deadlines start running from the meeting
Objections to the exemptions you claimed are due within 30 days after the meeting concludes, under Rule 4003(b). Objections to your discharge are due within 60 days after the first date set for the meeting, under Rule 4004(a). That phrase "first date set" matters, because rescheduling does not reset the clock. When both windows close without anyone filing anything, a typical no-asset case is usually near the end.
You can prepare for this in one evening
Read your petition from beginning to end. Most people sign without reading, and the schedules are where every question comes from. Know roughly what you own and what you owe, make sure that the Trustee has all of the required documents at least 10 days prior to your meeting. If you notice something missing or wrong while you are reading, tell your attorney before the meeting rather than after, because amending a schedule in advance is routine and being corrected on the record is not.
How long yours runs depends on the facts. Many are over in five minutes. Some end with the trustee asking for a bank statement or a title, which is a request for information, not an accusation.
If you are in Las Vegas and weighing whether to file, the Law Office of Brian D. Shapiro offers a free consultation by phone or video, and Chapter 7 can be started with $0 down, with no attorney fees until after the petition is filed. Call 702-386-8600 to talk it through.