What Licensed Insolvency Trustees Will Tell You About Personal Bankruptcy

Personal Bankruptcy and Meeting with Licensed Insolvency Trustees

If you are having financial trouble and finding it very difficult to pay your bills as they become due, Licensed Insolvency Trustees can help. Trustees are individuals who have been licensed by the Office of the Superintendent of Bankruptcy to provide people with information on debt relief options and administer insolvency processes.

Licensed Insolvency Trustees are the only people who can administer the personal bankruptcy process in Canada.

In personal bankruptcy, a person who is overwhelmed by debt is given the opportunity to have their unsecured debts eliminated and receive a fresh start to rebuild their financial life.

While many people have heard of filing for personal bankruptcy, they might not know the particulars of the process. That’s where Licensed Insolvency Trustees come in. Most offer a free consultation where they will review a person’s financial situation and provide them with details on the options that are available to them.

Meeting with Licensed Insolvency Trustees About Personal Bankruptcy

Licensed Insolvency Trustees are responsible for ensuring that insolvency processes (such as personal bankruptcy filings) are conducted fairly for all parties involved and that they play out in an orderly manner.

When you meet with a trustee, they will review your financial situation and help you understand the available options. If you decide that filing for personal bankruptcy makes the most sense for you, the trustee will complete the necessary forms and send them to your unsecured creditors. Once the paperwork is filed, the trustee becomes responsible for all communication with these creditors. Creditors cannot contact you and they cannot take any action against you to collect the debts.

Filing for personal bankruptcy provides legal protection from creditors. Not only can they not take any new action against you, but any actions that have already started must stop. This means calls from creditors and collection agencies, wage garnishments, and other actions come to an immediate end.

Licenced Insolvency Trustees are also responsible for informing you of which assets you can keep once you file for bankruptcy. The trustee will give you this information prior to filing so you can factor it into your decision. It is a common misconception that you lose everything when you file for bankruptcy. Each province and territory in Canada has different rules for which assets you are allowed to keep. In general, people are able to keep the assets they need to live a basic lifestyle and to earn an income. Before you decide if filing for personal bankruptcy makes sense for you, the trustee will inform you of what will happen to your assets if you file. The trustee is also responsible for making sure you can keep the exempt assets.

Depending on your income, you may be required to make monthly payments to the trustee during the course of your bankruptcy. These payments will be distributed to your creditors. The government sets limits for how much someone can earn during bankruptcy, depending on their family size. If you earn more than this amount, you will need to make monthly payments. The trustee will inform you of this prior to filing and, if your income changes, you will need to let the trustee know.

Licensed Insolvency Trustees also conduct financial counselling sessions for those who have filed for bankruptcy. The goal of these sessions is to help people understand budgets and how to use credit responsibly so they can avoid financial problems in the future.

Important Points to Remember About Personal Bankruptcy and Licensed Insolvency Trustees

Licensed Insolvency Trustees are bound by a strict code of ethics. One major aspect of this code is that they are required to inform people of all the options that are available to them when they come in for a consultation. Some other financial professionals may only give details on the options that they administer or the ones with which they are the most familiar. Trustees, on the other hand, give information on every option, including those that they do not administer.

It’s important to note that Licensed Insolvency Trustees will never pressure a person into choosing one option or another. Instead, they provide people with information and the individual debtor is always the only person who makes the decision as to how to proceed. You are always in control of your financial future.