341 Meeting today ... An unknown attorney representing me?!?

[Trying2Smile]

So I got an email from my attorney's secretary last Friday afternoon at 5pm reminding me of my 341 meeting today - Monday morning. In it, it said another attorney will be there to meet me and represent me. Is this normal?? Another attorney coming to your meeting that you've never met or interacted with or even heard of before? This isn't even an associate of the woman I hired as my counsel.

I was annoyed by this. When I questioned my attorney (5 min ago over the phone) she got upset at me! Not really what you want or need right before the meeting. Said I need to get over it. Guess part of this post is just me venting as I sit in my car waiting to go into the building for the meeting, but part of me also wonders if this has happened to anyone else - or if it is normal. Being informed last minute that an attorney unknown to you and your case ended up representing you.

[justbroke]

It's annoying but it happens very often. I think that my District here in Florida was annoyed as well if the attorney present was not admitted to practice before the US Bankruptcy Court or something. Otherwise, I hear this all the time. It is either a junior associate from the firm, or, in some other cases, a totally different attorney.

For the 341 Meeting, it usually doesn't really matter if all your paperwork is in order. Hopefully you have brought copies of everything that you sent to the Trustee, just in case.

I can empathize with how you're feeling. I have seen others at the 341 Meeting in the same exact position... or worse... their attorney showing up LATE!

[AngelinaCat]

It is not unusual for a stand-in attorney to be there, but the client is usually informed well ahead of time, not at the close of business the last business day before the event.

Good luck to you and try not to stress.

[Trying2Smile]

Thanks for the comments! As I saw today, guess this was the case for some other people as well. Just wish my attorney had mentioned this earlier and not been so rude with me when I questioned her about it. But as others have experienced, by 341 meeting was a breeze - took about 3 minutes!

[lucielulu209]

glad your 341 went quick and easy. I would have been upset too about an unknown attorney representing me!