A 341 meeting is a mandatory meeting held at the beginning of a bankruptcy proceeding. Also referred to as the creditors meeting, its name comes from section 341 of the Bankruptcy Code.

A 341 notice is thenotice sent by the bankruptcy clerk to thedebtor, thecreditors, and all other interested parties, notifying them of the date, time, and place in which the341 meeting (creditors meeting) will be held. Among other things, the 341 notice will state:

A 342 notice is thenotice sent before the commencement of abankruptcy proceeding by the bankruptcy clerk of thebankruptcy court to thedebtor, which contains:

707(b) action isdefined in Chapter 7 of theUnited States Bankruptcy code as amotion by the court, the United States trustee, thetrustee, theadministrator, or any party in interest to

Ab initio is a Latin term that means "from the beginning” or “from inception.” Ab initio is used to indicate that somefact existed from the start of a relevant time period. It is often used as part of the phrase “void ab initio,” meaning something (such as a marriage) wasvoid from the beginning.

Ab intestato is a Latin term meaning "byintestacy." The term refers to laws governing thesuccession ofproperty after the previous owner of the property dies without a validwill.

[Last reviewed in June of 2022 by the Wex Definitions Team]

• Latin terms

An AB trust (also called a bypass trust or a credit shelter trust) is a technique which allows married couples to avoid estate taxes on transfers of wealth to third parties up to a certain amount.

Abandon refers to the act ofabandonment. A party can “abandon” in multiple fields of law and abandoning generally, though not always, involves voluntarily giving up a right.

Seeabandonment for more information. 

[Last reviewed in June of 2022 by the Wex Definitions Team]

Abandonment is a term that generally refers to a voluntary parting or the discarding of an object with no intent to return or reclaim the item. However, it varies in application across different areas of the law.

The ABC test is used in some states to determine whether a person is anemployee or anindependent contractor for the purpose of determining state unemployment tax. Some courts using this test look at whether a worker meetsthree separate criteria to be considered an independent contractor:

• employment law