Financial difficulties can happen to anyone. For most people, the decision to declare bankruptcy is a serious and often painful one, usually resulting from loss of income or too much consumer credit and therefore debt.

In many cases, people who are considering bankruptcy need professional advice to understand the bankruptcy process. 

At Janes and Noseworthy, Licensed Insolvency Trustees, we can help you to get all the facts, understand the process and the associated risks. This section will explain, in simple terms, the duties, restrictions and responsibilities that you need to consider if you are considering bankruptcy.

What is bankruptcy?

The bankruptcy process is intended to give a person with debt management difficulties a fresh start and restore their financial health.

Bankruptcy is a legal process that provides immediate financial relief to individuals with financial difficulties by stopping legal actions by creditors. Bankruptcy usually results in getting rid of most, if not all, of a person’s debts. The procedure itself is referred to as “filing an assignment” and the person making an assignment in bankruptcy is referred to as the “bankrupt.”

The steps to declaring bankruptcy include: filing the assignment in bankruptcy, a meeting of the creditors, counselling and discharge.

If you are considering bankruptcy, the following provides a summary of the steps you will need to take and addresses many of the questions you may have:

Who can go bankrupt?

In order to declare bankruptcy, you must meet certain conditions, i.e.:

• owe at least $1,000;
• be unable to meet regular payments as they become due; and
• if you sold all of your assets, the funds would not be enough to pay off all of your debts.

In general, bankruptcy is only considered to be the best solution if you cannot reorganize your debts to repay them (in full, or some lesser amount if a viable proposal is agreed upon by the creditors) over a reasonable period using available assets and income.