Strategic Uses of a Rule 2004 Exam

While most bankruptcy practitioners are familiar with the basic concepts behind the Rule 2004 exam, some are less familiar with the procedural intricacies of obtaining, conducting, and responding to the exam ' intricacies that often involve practices and procedures adapted from civil discovery that are beyond the scope of pure bankruptcy practice. Rule 2004 of the Federal Rules of Bankruptcy Procedure provides a broadly construed discovery device that allows debtors, trustees, or any other party-in-interest in a bankruptcy case to examine 'any entity' as long as the examination relates to the 'acts, conduct, or property or to the liabilities and financial condition of the debtor, or to any matter which may affect the administration of the debtor's estate, or to the debtor's right to a discharge.' Fed. R. Bankr. P. 2004(b).