Bankruptcy Canada Trustee Blog

Does A Bankruptcy Trustee Seize Your Bank Account?

30 Sep 2013

When you file for bankruptcy, your trustee is required to seize your assets and distribute them to your creditors. While technically any money in your bank account is an asset to be surrendered to your bankruptcy trustee, in most cases your trustee will not automatically seize your bank account if…

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Declaring Bankruptcy In Canada – A Last Resort

25 Sep 2013

As a bankruptcy trustee, I follow one simple philosophy that I discuss with every person I meet who is in financial trouble: Declaring bankruptcy in Canada is a last resort. How true is this? So much so that only 1 in 5 people who contact our firm for help end…

My Bank Account Was Frozen. Will Bankruptcy Help?

23 Sep 2013

You need to pick up a few things on your way home so you stop at a bank machine to withdraw some cash, only the machine won’t let you make a withdrawal. You step inside and the teller informs you that your bank account has been “frozen”. What does that…

Second Time Bankruptcy. What Rules Apply?

18 Sep 2013

In Canada, about 15% of people that have filed for bankruptcy end up declaring bankruptcy a second time. Since approximately 60,000 Canadians will be declaring bankruptcy this year that means 9,000 of them likely have done so before. The number of people filing second bankruptcies is large enough that in…

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Bankruptcy and Payday Loans

16 Sep 2013

I want to start with a disclaimer – I really hate these guys. When we opened our bankruptcy practice in 1999 we saw very few payday loan companies. Then, within a couple of years, they started appearing on every file we saw. In 2005 we published a composite of the…

How Does A Joint Bankruptcy Filing Work?

11 Sep 2013

One of the most common questions posted to the internet chat groups about filing for personal bankruptcy in Canada has to do with spouses and whether or not if one files for bankruptcy, do they both have to. The short answer is no, each spouse is free to decide what…

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Do I Have To Disclose My Spouse’s Salary For Surplus Income?

04 Sep 2013

*Please note that this article has been updated with the 2017 surplus income limits Surplus income is calculated based on family income, so all members of the family disclose their income. If the husband is declaring bankruptcy but the wife is not going bankrupt, the husband is still supposed to…

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Balancing Debt Repayment With Living Expenses

02 Sep 2013

Question: Recently my husband and I applied for a second mortgage to pay off some credit card debt and outstanding bills and we were declined. Within the past year he lost his job and was on EI. With only my income (about $1,800 a month after tax) coming in our…

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Big Drop In Consumer Insolvencies In June

29 Aug 2013

Consumer insolvencies in Canada have fallen to almost pre-recession levels as the Canadian economy continues to improve and interest rates remain at historical lows. Total consumer insolvencies (both bankruptcies and consumer proposals) fell to 9,528 files in June, 2013, almost a third lower than the previous June peak of 13,792…

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Do I Have To File My Tax Returns Before Filing Bankruptcy?

28 Aug 2013

Most trustees in bankruptcy, myself included, will tell you that you should file all of your outstanding tax returns before filing bankruptcy in Canada – but do you really have to? The filing of income tax returns is required under the Income Tax Act. There is actually no requirement under…

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