Once you go to your 341 meeting either by yourself or with
an attorney, you will be asked some basic questions like:
Have you transferred property in the last two years? Are
you suing anyone from whom you can collect money? Will you
be entitled to any other monies within the next six months?
If the trustee finds that your petition is in order and
there are no assets, he will right then and there say there
was a finding of no assets, which means you are going to be
discharged.
Discharge is the legal forgiveness of debts. When the
discharge is entered, no creditor who had notice of the
bankruptcy can try afterwards to collect the debt from you
personally unless the debt is one for a non- dischargeable
debt such as criminal restitution, domestic support, or
student loan. While the discharge stays on your credit
record for 10 years from the filing of the case (although
several credit reporting agencies remove it after 7 years),
it becomes less and less significant in a creditor's
decision to grant new credit with every year that passes.