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How To Declare Bankruptcy In Quebec

Preferences Or Transfers At Undervalue

Personal bankruptcy in Canada, How much does it cost?

A transfer of property can be set aside if, in the three months prior to the date of the initial bankruptcy event, the debtor made a payment to one creditor that favored the creditor over others. .

A disposition of property or provision of service for which no consideration is received by the debtor or the consideration received is less than the fair market value of the consideration by the debtor can be set aside if made in the one year before the initial bankruptcy event. If the creditor is not at arms length from the debtor, the disposition of property can be reviewed by up to 5 years before the initial bankruptcy event if the debtor was insolvent or was rendered insolvent by the transaction or the debtor intended to defraud, defeat or delay a creditor.

If you have reasonable grounds to believe that the bankrupt or someone else is guilty of an offence under the BIA or any other statute, you should contact the LIT in charge of the estate or the OSB.

What Bankruptcy Records Exist In Canada

The official bankruptcy records in Canada are compiled by the Office of the Superintendent of Bankruptcy Canada and are public records. This means that any member of the public can access them via an internet search tool on the OSB website, although there is a fee, and searches must be very specific.

The OSB sends a monthly list of new bankruptcies to each of the credit bureaus , who record them on their credit histories of individual consumers. The OSB also sends information on bankruptcies that have been discharged , and the bankruptcy record for each person is removed from that persons credit report after a set number of years.

What Is Bankruptcy Declaring Personal Bankruptcy Meaning

Personal bankruptcy in Canada is a legal process, governed by federal law .

Insolvency is defined as the inability to meet your financial obligations , combined with the lack of assets sufficient to pay these bills.If you are insolvent and owe more than $1,000 in total, you qualify for declaring bankruptcy in Canada, which may be a practical option for your situation. However, meeting this requirement does not mean you must file for bankruptcy other options can be explored with the help of a Licensed Insolvency Trustee.

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Can I Declare Bankruptcy If I Am Unemployed

Yes. Often times, people with financial problems are out of work, and nothing can prevent them from declaring bankruptcy. Nevertheless, you will have to make monthly payments, to the Trustee, during the nine month period of the bankruptcy. (Please refer to the question What is the duration of a bankruptcy?

How Much Does Bankruptcy Cost In Quebec

Canadian Bankruptcy Law

During your bankruptcy, there are monthly payments that you will have to make to your Licensed Insolvency Trustee. These payments vary depending on your financial capacity. The amount payable varies from file to file depending on several factors such as income, seizable assets, etc.

For a first-time bankruptcy, the monthly payments vary between $ 150 and $ 200 for the duration of the bankruptcy. When you have people who are financially dependent on you, the amount is reduced. If you have special expenses like health care costs or child support costs, it will influence your monthly payments.

If you have specific questions regarding your situation, do not hesitate to contact us.

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Bankruptcy Or Consumer Proposal: Which Is Right For You

Another question many Canadians ask before they declare bankruptcy is whether a consumer proposal is the best option for reducing their debt.

As with bankruptcy, a consumer proposal gives good faith debtors a way of solving their debt problems and hitting the reset button on their financial situation. In fact, 60% of the insolvency filings made to the OSB in 2019 were proposals.

Your trustee will advise you on whether filing a consumer proposal or bankruptcy is best for your situation, and you can read more about the difference between the two on our guide to Bankruptcy vs. Consumer Proposal.

For bankruptcy advice in Ottawa, Ontario call us at .

Couldnt asked for a better service, all my questions were answered and my financial problems solved. Cheers to a new start!!!.

What Is The Importance Of A Personalized Assessment With A Trustee

As you may have noticed, there are several different solutions to over-indebtedness problems. It is important to consult a bankruptcy trustee in order to carry out an in-depth assessment of your situation. This way you can determine the solution that best suits your needs and your financial reality.

Many people are struggling financially and there is no one-size-fits-all solution that works for everyone. It all depends on a series of factors and variables that should be analyzed by an insolvency expert.

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How Often Can You File For Bankruptcy

There is no limit to the number of times you can file for bankruptcy, and no legislated time limit between bankruptcies. However, the length of the bankruptcy and your obligations within the bankruptcy along with the length of time your credit rating will be negatively impacted will increase with each successive bankruptcy. If you file bankruptcy more than twice, the Court will be required to determine how you will be discharged from bankruptcy.Find a local Trustee you can trust. Bankruptcy Canada can connect you with Trustees from coast to coast in Canada including Toronto and Ottawa. Talk to one today.

Why You Should Not Be Embarrassed By Bankruptcy

How To Keep Your House In Bankruptcy in Canada

According to the Office of the Superintendent of Bankruptcy, approximately 100,000 Canadians every year turn to bankruptcy or consumer proposal as a way to deal with their debt problems.

It is important to recognize that there should be no shame associated with declaring personal bankruptcy. People find themselves in this stressful position for a wide variety of reasons, from a sudden loss of employment to large, unexpected bills.When your bankruptcy is completed , the debts included in your bankruptcy will be extinguished and you can begin to improve your right away.

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Bankruptcy Exemptions In Nova Scotia

  • No limit on clothes for you and your family
  • No limit on fuel and food for your family
  • Up to $5,000 in household furniture and appliances
  • One motor vehicle up to $6,500
  • All medical and health aids for you and your family
  • Farm equipment, fishing nets, or other tools of your trade up to $7,500
  • No limit on grain and seeds or livestock for domestic use by you and your family

For more information on bankruptcy exemptions in Nova Scotia, speak to a local Licensed Insolvency Trustee.

Nunavut bankruptcy exemptions

In Nunavut, property exempt from seizure in bankruptcy is set by the territorial government and applies to the equity in an asset. Equity is the difference between the value of the asset and what you owe on the asset.

How Can I Check Whether Someone Has Been Bankrupt

You can pay a fee to the Office of the Superintendent of Bankruptcy for them to search for any record of a specific Canadian individuals having being bankrupt. To do this on the Internet:

  • Go to the OSBs Insolvency Name Search.
  • Establish an account for searching.
  • Specify criteria for your search. These can include names and age of the person, and place of filing.
  • Each search costs $8.00, whether successful or not. If the search finds more than ten matches to your search criteria, it will cost a further $8.00 to view each ten or fewer after the first ten.

The search tool does not allow random searches. The person searching must know in advance whose record they are seeking, or the search may become prohibitively expensive.

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Can I Keep My House If I Declare Bankruptcy

If you can continue to make your mortgage payments, you may be able to keep your home. Additionally, if your home equity falls within the exemption limits in your province, then your trustee will disclaim any rights to it.

Your home equity is determined by removing what you owe for the assetthe mortgage and property taxes. If that amount is over the exemption limit, you may be required to pay that value in order to keep your home.

Sometimes, if the home equity amount exceeds the exemption amount considerably, homeowners will consider using this to pay off creditors. That is why it is important to learn about the asset exemption limits that apply to your province.

What Are The Requirements Of Filing Bankruptcy

What happens when you declare bankruptcy?

Who can file for bankruptcy?

The criteria for being able to file bankruptcy is simple:

  • You must owe at least $1,000
  • You cant make your payments as they come due and,
  • You dont have sufficient assets to pay off your debt.

What kind of debt can I discharge with bankruptcy?

Bankruptcy relieves most kinds of unsecured debt, whether thats credit card debt, payday loans, tax debt, bank loans, or a line of credit.

Debts that are not dischargeable by bankruptcy include:

  • Court imposed fines, penalties, and restitution orders
  • Speeding tickets and parking tickets
  • Child support, spousal support, or alimony
  • Debts created by fraud
  • Civil court damages awarded against you
  • Student loans for studies within the last 7 years

Can I file for bankruptcy if I live abroad?

If youre a Canadian citizen living internationally but have debts in Canada, the simplest way to file for bankruptcy is to return to Canada and give a trustee your bankruptcy paperwork.

If you prefer to stay outside of Canada, you can file for bankruptcy if:

  • Youve carried on business in Canada within the year preceding bankruptcy
  • You have resided for the previous 12 months in Canada or
  • The majority of your property is located in Canada .

For more tips on filing for bankruptcy while living outside of Canada, read our blog.

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Loans And Other Credit

After you have been discharged from bankruptcy, there is no legal waiting-time requirement that must be met in order to apply for most loans, such as personal loans or car loans. However, lenders will ask for your financial information, including whether you are employed, current debts and assets, in addition to obtaining credit reports which contain information about your credit history and bankruptcy. Therefore, before immediately applying for a loan after being discharged from bankruptcy, it is a good idea to spend some time on repairing your credit, which will increase your chances of getting a loan.

It Will Be More Difficult For You To Access Credit

Of course, you will not have access to credit as long as you are bankrupt. A first personal bankruptcy in Quebec means that it will appear in your file for the next 6 years, while a second, 14 years.

Once this period has passed, you will be able to benefit from credits. However, it may be difficult for you to obtain banking institution support after a personal bankruptcy in Quebec. You can call on lenders. However, you will need to be extra careful and make sure these establishments are honest.

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What Happens To My Student Debt After Declaring A Personal Bankruptcy In Quebec

If you declare your personal bankruptcy in Quebec 7 years after the end of your studies, your student debt could be releasable.If you stopped being a student at least 5 years ago, you can go to the court to ask for the cancellation of your debt. It will be the court that will judge your good faith and your inability to repay before rendering its verdict.

Filing For Bankruptcy In Toronto Ontario

HOW BANKRUPTCIES WORK IN CANADA: FILING FOR BANKRUPTCY IN ONTARIO

Thinking about declaring bankruptcy in Toronto? No matter the level of debt you have, your local MNP LTD Licensed Insolvency Trustee can offer you solutions. Year after year, we help thousands of Canadians just like you break free from financial hardship.

Your local MNP LTD is staffed with dedicated professionals who are a part of and familiar with your community. Dont let your debt troubles get out of control. There are options — discover them with MNP LTD now.

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What Can You Do If You Can’t Find A Licensed Insolvency Trustee

If you are unable to get an LIT to accept your file, or if you cannot afford to hire an LIT, the OSB’s Bankruptcy Assistance Program may be able to help, provided that you:

  • have contacted at least two LITs and tried to obtain their services
  • are not, and have not recently been, involved in commercial activities
  • are not required to make surplus income payments and
  • are not in jail

A creditor is harassing me daily. What should I do?

Although the regulations differ slightly across Canada, there are limits on what creditors and collection agencies are allowed to do. For example, they cannot make telephone calls of such a nature or frequency that they amount to harassment of you or your family. In addition, there are certain times when they are not allowed to call.

Tips for dealing with collection agencies If you feel you are being harassed, contact either an LIT or a qualified and experienced credit counsellor. They can help you by serving as an intermediary between you and your creditor.

and we will send you some information and a list of LITs who participate in the program.

Keeping A Vehicle That You Own Outright When You File Bankruptcy

In Ontario, you can keep any motor vehicle worth up to $7,117 when you declare bankruptcy. You can research other provincial exemption amounts across Canada here.

Most older vehicles qualify for this exemption. Your trustee will look up what is known as the black book value of your car or truck to determine whether your vehicle will be considered property in your bankruptcy or will fall under the provincial exemption limit.

If you own a car outright and the fair market value is more than the exemption limit, you can propose to buy out the realizable portion from your trustee over the period of your bankruptcy.

If for example, you have a car worth $8,517, you would have to pay your trustee $1,400. You could do this by making additional payments of $156 during a typical 9-month bankruptcy. If that monthly payment is too much, talk to our trustees about a consumer proposal.

You can keep one motor vehicle under these exemption rules. If you own more than one vehicle and would like to keep both, a consumer proposal may be a better option.

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What Will Happen To My Income Tax Refunds And Does The Fact That I Filed A Bankruptcy Affect The Filing Of My Personal Tax Returns

Provincial: The Provincial income tax refunds are not seizable by the Trustee, which means that you may keep the refunds despite the fact that you filed a Bankruptcy.

However, you should be aware that if there is an amount owing to the Agence du revenu du Québec for a period prior to the date of the Bankruptcy, the ARQ may apply your income tax refunds against any amount owing for a period prior to the Bankruptcy, but not for any period subsequent to the Bankruptcy.

Federal: The Federal income tax refunds for the periods prior to the Bankruptcy, as well as for the calendar year of the Bankruptcy, will be seized for the benefit of your creditors. The Federal income tax refunds for the years subsequent to the Bankruptcy may not be seized by the Trustee.

The filing of your income tax returns:

In the event that you file a Bankruptcy, you may consider this a fresh start, and you will be entitled to include any income tax debt owing up to the date of the Bankruptcy. As such, there will be two income tax returns to be filed, the first for the period from the 1 st of January to the day prior to the date of the Bankruptcy, and the second, for the period from the date of the Bankruptcy to December 31. The Trustee will prepare the income tax returns, free of charge, .

In Case Of Personal Bankruptcy Can I Keep One Or More Credit Cards

Personal Bankruptcy: How to Declare Bankruptcy in Quebec ...

No. If you declare a personal bankruptcy in Quebec, you are no longer eligible for credit. Regardless of whether your balance is $ 0 or $ 1000, you will have to hand over your credit cards to your trustee.

For more information on personal bankruptcy in Quebec or if you would like to be accompanied by an honest and professional bankruptcy trustee, do not hesitate to contact N. Séguin Inc. at .

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Duties Of The Bankrupt

The bankrupt is subject to the obligations listed in section 158 BIA, which can be summarized as follows:

  • Reveal and deliver all the property to the trustee
  • Deliver all credit cards to the trustee
  • Attend the creditors meeting and other meetings that the official receiver or trustee may determine
  • Provide a statement of affairs to the trustee showing all assets and liabilities to the best of the bankrupts knowledge
  • Inform the trustee of any changes in address, telephone, etc.
  • Provide the trustee with a list of all creditors, their addresses, the nature of the debt, the amount due and all the evidence relating to the debts
  • Stop paying creditors during the bankruptcy

Identification Of The Assets That Will Be Sold

You will determine with your trustee which of your assets will be sold to reimburse your creditors. Some of your property is protected by law, so it will not be seized or sold.

Heres what you can keep:

  • Your household and personal belongings that support you and your family .
  • Your RRSP or RRIF contributions, except for those paid less than 10 months before the bankruptcy.
  • The commuted value of your life insurance policy, only if the beneficiary is your spouse, your direct ascendant or descendant.
  • Equipments that are necessary for your profession or your daily life such as a vehicle or a computer.
  • Your house only if its equity is up to zero or in the case of an acceptable agreement made with the trustee when the equity is remarkably low.
  • A part of your salary .

The trustee will then proceed to sell the unprotected assets. The proceeds from this sale will be distributed to your creditors in the order determined by the bankruptcy and insolvency act.

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