Your Trustee Files Your Bankruptcy Documents


Category: Personal Bankruptcy

Your trustee is responsible for meeting with you during your free initial consultation, preparing your paperwork, and then meeting with you to sign the documents.  Once you have signed all of the documents, the trustee will witness your signature, and then transmit the documents to the government.

All bankruptcy documents in Canada are e-filed to the Office of the Superintendent of Bankruptcy, a division of Industry Canada, which is part of the federal government.  Here’s how it works:

Once you have signed the paperwork, your trustee will create an electronic file and transmit it to Industry Canada, containing the statutory forms required to start the process, including:

A few seconds later the trustee will receive a Certificate of Appointment, confirming that your bankruptcy is filed.   This certificate is very important for you, for the following reasons:

First, it confirms that your bankruptcy is filed.  Your bankruptcy does not officially start until you receive the Certificate of Appointment is issued by the government.  As soon as this certificate is issued your creditors are prevented from taking legal action against you to garnishee your wages.

Second, your Certificate of Appointment contains your Estate Number.  When bill collectors call you and you tell them you have filed for bankruptcy in Canada, they may not believe you.  Often they will ask for your Estate Number as proof.  If you have your number, you give it to them, they enter it into their system, and the phone calls stop!  That’s why it’s important to get your Estate Number before you leave your trustee’s office.

Here’s our tips:

  • Before you leave your trustee’s office after you have filed, ask them to print out for you your Certificate of Appointment so that you know your Estate Number so that you can provide it to any creditors that phone you.
  • You also want your trustee’s office phone number so that you can provide that to the creditors as well if they call you after you have filed bankruptcy.