United States Bankruptcy Administrator

Middle District of Alabama

ONE CHURCH STREET MONTGOMERY, ALABAMA 36104

ANNOUNCEMENT

MARCH 13, 2020

341 Meetings of Creditors: Temporary Policies and Procedures

Due to the public health crisis related to COVID-19, the U.S. Bankruptcy Administrator for the Middle District of Alabama is implementing the following temporary policies and procedures with respect to ALL Section 341 meetings of creditors, which policies and procedures will take effect immediately.

All 341 meetings scheduled through April 10, 2020 will be conducted telephonically. Formal notices will be sent by the Court and properly served on all parties on the matrix setting out the call-in number and code for the telephonic hearing. Please check the notice for each docket because the call-in number and access code may change based on the number of Section 341 meetings being held in the Middle District on a given day.

Debtors and their counsel as well as any creditors or interested parties wishing to appear at a 341 meeting should not report to the physical location of the originally scheduled 341 meeting but should instead make plans to appear remotely by phone. Counsel may request debtors appear at their offices, at their own discretion.

Neither the Trustee nor the Trustee’s staff will be present at the originally scheduled locations, nor will telephone access be provided at any physical meeting locations, nor will physical access to the Bankruptcy Administrator’s or any Trustees’ offices be permitted for these meetings. Instead, a call-in number and access code will be provided to all parties.

To avoid foreseeable problems and unnecessary delay, counsel are encouraged to assist in implementing the following phone etiquette guidelines, which will be required of all parties:

  1. Mute the call while your meeting is not being held.
  2. Speak clearly.
  3. Limit all background noise while your meeting is being held.
  4. No speaker phone unless two or more persons are appearing on the same line, i.e., debtor and counsel or joint-filing debtors.
  5. Debtors without phone access should appear for the telephonic meeting at their counsel’s office.
  6. Debtors and counsel are to be at a set location, and not in transit, so that full attention can be given to the questions being asked.
  7. Only debtors and their counsel as well as creditors or interested parties will be allowed on the call, i.e., no “moral support” or supplementary answers to be provided by friends or family.
  8. Any telephonic appearances by debtors without their counsel also present on the call will result in a continuance.

To make the telephonic process as efficient as possible and to enable the Trustee to verify the identity of the debtor(s), a copy of the debtor’s driver’s license MUST be sent to the Trustee via

email by 12:00 noon two business (2) days prior to the 341 meeting.

The email should be directed as follows:

These temporary policies and procedures do not otherwise affect a debtor’s requirement to submit and provide all other necessary documents to the Court and the Trustee.

Thank you in advance for your patience and cooperation in implementing these temporary

changes.