Legal Definitions - debtor's examination

A debtor's examination is a meeting between a person who owes money (the debtor) and their creditors. The creditors ask the debtor questions to find out where their assets are and how much they owe. This meeting can happen during a bankruptcy case or outside of it.

• After filing for bankruptcy, John had to attend a debtor's examination where his creditors asked him about his income and property.
• When Mary didn't pay her credit card bill, the bank requested a debtor's examination to find out if she had any assets they could seize.

In the first example, John is going through a bankruptcy case and has to attend a debtor's examination as part of the process. The creditors want to know if he has any assets they can use to pay off his debts.

In the second example, Mary is not in bankruptcy but the bank wants to find out if she has any assets they can take to pay off her debt. They request a debtor's examination to get this information.