There is a great deal of confusion about the filing of bankruptcy in Canada vs. the United States. This article will focus on the filing of a bankruptcy in Canada. The bankruptcy process starts with initially consulting with a licensed Trustee. You need to meet with a trustee who is licensed by the federal government and practices in your local area. So the first step is to contact a local trustee and set up a time for them to evaluate where you are at financially. To be able to adequately explain all your options and give any quality advice this trustee will begin by reviewing the details of your financial situation. To do this they will sit down with you in person and talk about the fundamental areas of our personal finances (i.e. assets, income, living expenses and debts).
This view could not be more false or erroneous, however. In fact, nothing - absolutely NOTHING - could be farther from the truth in the entire current administration of the bankruptcy system! Actually, what is really TRUE, is that objective experts and knowledgeable persons from all spectra in the bankruptcy industry, including lawyers, court trustees and judges, who specialize in bankruptcy, have it quite amply on the record that most personal bankruptcies are really simple. So much so, in fact, they say, that such work really don't need the services of a lawyer to handle since they are generally very elementary and largely clerical in nature, and so generally easy and simple to undertake. Most of such experts say that at least, with respect to Chapter 7, if not Chapter 13, debtors can easily file Chapter 7 bankruptcy without lawyer.
They generally cite two basic reasons upon which they rest their basis for saying this: (1) that an overwhelming majority of personal bankruptcy cases are so-called "no asset" or "minimum asset" cases - meaning, cases in which the owing debtors literally have or own absolutely NOTHING that the creditors can claim or attach, let alone any money for paying the lawyer's hefty fees, and so have no basis to hire lawyers since they lack any worthy property or asset for a lawyer to protect from the creditors if they filed for bankruptcy; and (2) the FACT that bankruptcy, they say (contrary to the layman's common belief that bankruptcy is a complicated procedure), is really a relatively simple matter which often involves the mere completion of simple routine forms and submitting them to the local bankruptcy court.
Janice Kosel, Professor of law at Golden State University, San Francisco, and a recognized author and expert on personal bankruptcy issues, explains: "Do you need a lawyer in order to file a Chapter 13 (bankruptcy) repayment plan? No. [Even] Filing a Chapter 13 plan is often easier than preparing your income tax return. If you can do that, you can probably handle your... [bankruptcy] yourself...There is no requirement (under the law) that you have to have a lawyer (in order to file for bankruptcy)...You can choose to represent yourself." Stephen Elias, California Attorney, prominent author and specialist in bankruptcy law, most recently summed it up this way: "There is seldom a good reason to use an attorney in a consumer Chapter 7 bankruptcy case. The procedures are almost exclusively administrative - that is, there is no appearance before a judge...The forms are all (with very few exceptions) pre-printed in plain English....[But, in spite of that fact], What's tragic is that people actually think they have to have attorney representation [to be able to do it]."
While there are a number of duties and responsibilities that must be completed during a bankruptcy, they are easier than most people think. The first major part is assisting with assets. As part of filing a bankruptcy the first thing you have to assist with is the disposition of any non-exempt assets. This will be explained in much greater detail to you when you first meet with a local trustee, but the idea is that your province has legislated a list of property that is protected when a bankruptcy is filed (i.e. exempt property). So if you own any property over and above your provincial exemptions this may be lost as part of the bankruptcy process and you would have to work with your trustee to have it property disposed of. In most situations we find that the provincial guidelines have been set wide enough so that most of the things in an average household don't become an issue, but it is something you must be aware of. If you have any specific questions about the exemptions in your province you can review the details through the link at the bottom of this article.
Once they approve everything, on your request, they will even file a court petition for bankruptcy for you. This way, we can see that filing bankruptcy online will take away the pain out of the complicated proceedings.
This view could not be more false or erroneous, however. In fact, nothing - absolutely NOTHING - could be farther from the truth in the entire current administration of the bankruptcy system! Actually, what is really TRUE, is that objective experts and knowledgeable persons from all spectra in the bankruptcy industry, including lawyers, court trustees and judges, who specialize in bankruptcy, have it quite amply on the record that most personal bankruptcies are really simple. So much so, in fact, they say, that such work really don't need the services of a lawyer to handle since they are generally very elementary and largely clerical in nature, and so generally easy and simple to undertake. Most of such experts say that at least, with respect to Chapter 7, if not Chapter 13, debtors can easily file Chapter 7 bankruptcy without lawyer.
They generally cite two basic reasons upon which they rest their basis for saying this: (1) that an overwhelming majority of personal bankruptcy cases are so-called "no asset" or "minimum asset" cases - meaning, cases in which the owing debtors literally have or own absolutely NOTHING that the creditors can claim or attach, let alone any money for paying the lawyer's hefty fees, and so have no basis to hire lawyers since they lack any worthy property or asset for a lawyer to protect from the creditors if they filed for bankruptcy; and (2) the FACT that bankruptcy, they say (contrary to the layman's common belief that bankruptcy is a complicated procedure), is really a relatively simple matter which often involves the mere completion of simple routine forms and submitting them to the local bankruptcy court.
Janice Kosel, Professor of law at Golden State University, San Francisco, and a recognized author and expert on personal bankruptcy issues, explains: "Do you need a lawyer in order to file a Chapter 13 (bankruptcy) repayment plan? No. [Even] Filing a Chapter 13 plan is often easier than preparing your income tax return. If you can do that, you can probably handle your... [bankruptcy] yourself...There is no requirement (under the law) that you have to have a lawyer (in order to file for bankruptcy)...You can choose to represent yourself." Stephen Elias, California Attorney, prominent author and specialist in bankruptcy law, most recently summed it up this way: "There is seldom a good reason to use an attorney in a consumer Chapter 7 bankruptcy case. The procedures are almost exclusively administrative - that is, there is no appearance before a judge...The forms are all (with very few exceptions) pre-printed in plain English....[But, in spite of that fact], What's tragic is that people actually think they have to have attorney representation [to be able to do it]."
While there are a number of duties and responsibilities that must be completed during a bankruptcy, they are easier than most people think. The first major part is assisting with assets. As part of filing a bankruptcy the first thing you have to assist with is the disposition of any non-exempt assets. This will be explained in much greater detail to you when you first meet with a local trustee, but the idea is that your province has legislated a list of property that is protected when a bankruptcy is filed (i.e. exempt property). So if you own any property over and above your provincial exemptions this may be lost as part of the bankruptcy process and you would have to work with your trustee to have it property disposed of. In most situations we find that the provincial guidelines have been set wide enough so that most of the things in an average household don't become an issue, but it is something you must be aware of. If you have any specific questions about the exemptions in your province you can review the details through the link at the bottom of this article.
Once they approve everything, on your request, they will even file a court petition for bankruptcy for you. This way, we can see that filing bankruptcy online will take away the pain out of the complicated proceedings.
About the Author:
Frank Miller has a Debt Consolidation Blog & Finance, these are some of the articles: Benefits Of Seeking IFRS Training Services You have full permission to reprint this article provided this box is kept unchanged.
No comments:
Post a Comment