Bankruptcy vs consumer proposal: Introduction
In this Brandon’s Blog, we discuss the issues about bankruptcy vs consumer proposal. We will use a real-life case study involving a woman and her pet, to show the reasons why consumer proposals are better than bankruptcies.
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First, I should provide a very brief outline of how a dog or cat pet medical insurance works. A pet medical insurance policy runs just like those for humans. They typically have a yearly insurance deductible, need you to pay regular monthly costs and include you filing a claim for benefits after paying your vet for pet care.
When a family pet isn’t acting normal, the last thing you need is to be fretting over is just how you’re most likely be spending a lot of money for their emergency treatment. That’s why pet medical insurance coverage intends to exist. They cover your pet’s treatment when it comes to an unforeseen illness. This way you do not need to select between your pet’s health and wellbeing and your savings.
With pet medical insurance, you are financially in charge of paying your vet for all services and treatments. Like human medical insurance coverage, you then file a claim with the insurance company. They pay your claim for all eligible expenses, subject to any deductible in your policy.
Bankruptcy vs consumer proposal: Case study dog facts
When our potential client came to our office for a free first consultation, she provided us with a list of all of her assets, including her pet dog. Her dog was not a “Best in Show” winner of any prestigious dog shows. Therefore, the dog’s value was emotional to the owner but had no real financial value. Therefore, under Ontario law, technically speaking, the dog, along with her other personal property, was exempt from seizure by a licensed insolvency trustee (formerly called a bankruptcy trustee) (Trustee) in a bankruptcy!
She also listed as an asset, a health benefit claim. In our discussion, she advised that this was a pet medical insurance claim she filed for vet services for her dog and she was awaiting payment. The amount was significant to this woman and it got me thinking.
If the woman was insolvent, how did she pay the vet? Did she use a credit card that had room on it that will never be repaid? The woman told me that she is single. Did a friend or relative pay the vet on her behalf and when the insurance claim comes in, she will give them the money?
Bankruptcy vs consumer proposal: Case study issues
These seemingly innocuous facts contain various issues in bankruptcy versus a consumer proposal. Here are the various issues that I was pawing around with.
Paid by credit card and DID RECEIVE insurance claim proceeds before filing
If she paid by credit card and received the insurance claim payment before filing for bankruptcy, that is not a problem. This was actually the case. Any amount received not used to live on would presumably be a balance in her bank account. That cash balance would have to be accounted for in her bankruptcy.
In her case, based on the information she told me, there was a very small amount of cash on hand and no other non-exempt assets for a Trustee to seize. The surplus income calculation also showed that she had none. Therefore, in that case, there would not be any dividend paid from her bankruptcy estate to the unsecured creditors.
As you will recall from earlier Brandon’s Blogs, other than for exempt assets, upon bankruptcy, the assets of the insolvent person vest in the Trustee. The Trustee then sells the assets and distributes the money in the order established by the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act (Canada) (BIA). Surplus income, is a calculation set by the Superintendent of Bankruptcy that a Trustee must do, to decide what amount of an insolvent person’s income they must contribute to their bankruptcy estate if any.
You may have a moral issue with the fact that she was repaid for the vet cost she put on her credit card and the credit card company will not receive a payment. However, in bankruptcy, there is no legal issue. The credit card company may choose to oppose her discharge from bankruptcy for this or other reasons. If they did, she could not receive an automatic discharge from bankruptcy. The matter would go to Court for a discharge hearing.
In a consumer proposal, it is a non-issue. The creditors must vote either in favour of or oppose the consumer proposal. The consumer proposal, by definition, has to be a better offer to the creditors than what they would receive in bankruptcy. In this case, in bankruptcy, they would receive nothing. In a consumer proposal, the creditors would receive a payment. If the required majority of creditors voted or were deemed to have voted in favour of the consumer proposal, the Court (was deemed to have) approved it and the insolvent person fully paid the entire amount promised, the creditors are better off with their choice.
Paid by credit card and DID NOT receive insurance claim proceeds before filing
If this was the situation, and the woman filed for bankruptcy, then it is really simple. The amount receivable from the insurance company under her claim would be an asset of the bankruptcy estate, payable to the Trustee. The Trustee would have to put the insurance company on notice of the bankruptcy, and demand that the insurance company pay the claim to the Trustee. When paid, those funds become part of the Bankruptcy Estate.
In a consumer proposal, the value of this asset must be taken into account when formulating the offer to creditors. As previously mentioned, a consumer proposal must offer a better alternative for the creditors.
A friend or relative pay the vet on her behalf and she DID NOT REPAY the person before filing
In this situation, the person who paid the vet bill is an unsecured creditor of the woman. In either a bankruptcy or a consumer proposal, the person would have the right to file a proof of claim in the insolvency proceeding. If the claim was approved by the Trustee, which it would be if submitted with proper proof of payment, the person would be entitled to any dividend to be paid. This is a very simple situation.
A friend or relative pay the vet on her behalf and she DID REPAY the person before filing
In the bankruptcy of the woman, this is a big problem for the friend or relative. The reason the repayment would have been made prior to filing is simple. The money was owed, and the insolvent woman did not want to see her friend or relative go unpaid before filing. The issue is that there are other creditors too, and they are being treated differently than this friend or relative.
Section 141 of the BIA states “…all claims proved in bankruptcy shall be paid rateably”. The corollary is that all ordinary unsecured creditors should be treated equally. The friend or relative who made the payment to the vet on behalf of the insolvent woman, who is an ordinary unsecured creditor, must be treated the same as the rest of them. So how is this to be done?
Sections 95 and 96 of the BIA are the sections which deal with how to enforce this principle of the BIA. Section 95 deals with Preferences. Section 96 deals with any transfer of property by the insolvent person at undervalue (Transfer at undervalue). In this example, the preference section comes into play.
A preference is defined as the transfer of any property, including a cash payment, made by the insolvent person to any creditor who is dealing either at arms’ length or non-arms’ length with the insolvent person. The transaction must be one that has the intention of preferring that creditor over the others. In this example, the definition certainly fits.
Such transactions, limited only in time, are attackable by the Trustee in bankruptcy. If the friend or relative is dealing at arms’ length with the insolvent person, then the Trustee can challenge any transactions which occurred within the 3 months before the date of the first bankruptcy event and ending on the date of the bankruptcy. If the friend or relative was deemed to not be dealing at arms’ length with the woman, then the time period is extended from 3 months to 12 months.
An initial bankruptcy event for a person is essentially the first day an insolvency proceeding started. For a person, the most likely initial bankruptcy events would be the date on which one of the following filings occurred:
- Assignment in bankruptcy;
- Notice of Intention To Make a Proposal;
- (consumer) proposal;
- Application for a Bankruptcy Order
How would the Trustee challenge it? The challenge starts with a letter to and a conversation with the bankrupt person and the friend or relative. The Trustee would outline the powers of the Trustee to get a Court order against the friend or relative for the repayment to the Trustee of the insurance repayment in question. The Trustee would make a demand for payment on the friend or relative. There should be evidence of the payment being demanded in the Trustee’s files. We wouldn’t want the Trustee to be barking up the wrong tree.
If the friend or relative pays the amount over to the Trustee, then it is over. The Trustee has recovered the funds intended to prefer the friend or relative over the other unsecured creditors. The Trustee now has the funds so that all ordinary unsecured creditors can be treated equally.
Should the Trustee’s demand goes unpaid, the Trustee could then make application to Court for an order against the friend or relative declaring that a preference was given and that the funds must be paid over to the Trustee. The evidentiary bar for the Trustee is not set high at all. As long as the transaction has the effect of giving the friend or relative a preference, it is assumed to have been a preference. It is up to the friend or relative to have to prove by way of evidence to the contrary, that it was not a preference.
As I mentioned previously, a consumer proposal must offer the creditors a better alternative than in the case of the person’s bankruptcy. So, the preference payment must be taken into account in assessing what type of consumer proposal to offer. This includes the total payment to be made by the insolvent woman to the Trustee to pay a dividend to the unsecured creditors.
For best practices in the consumer proposal administration, the Trustee should add a clause in the consumer proposal that states that the provisions of the preference section of the BIA do not come into play. The reason for doing so is to make it clear that the Trustee, acting as Administrator in the consumer proposal, has no right to demand payment from the friend or relative. The reason is that the amount was already taken into account in formulating the total amount paid under the consumer proposal.
It also acts as a signal to the unsecured creditors, to highlight the issue of the preference. The Trustee should explain the issues to the creditors and show how the amount of the preference has already been taken into account. In this way, full disclosure has been accomplished.
Bankruptcy vs consumer proposal: Is a consumer proposal a good idea
A successful consumer proposal is one of the bankruptcy alternatives. It is always a good idea to avoid bankruptcy if you can. There are many reasons why consumer proposals are better than bankruptcies. By having a successful consumer proposal, you will avoid:
- having to file monthly income and expense statements;
- being subject to a surplus income recalculation;
- a bankruptcy on your credit record;
- bankruptcy negatively affecting your credit score;
- having a discharge process that could be opposed; and
- a court discharge hearing
Bankruptcy vs consumer proposal: What about you?
Do you have excessive debt? Are you having trouble making your month-to-month payments? Is your business not taking care of financial challenges that you simply cannot figure out how to escape from?
If so, call the Ira Smith Team today. We have years and generations of experience assisting people and companies trying to find a financial restructuring or a debt negotiation strategy. As a licensed insolvency trustee, we are the only professionals identified, accredited and monitored by the Federal government to give insolvency help and services to assist you to avoid bankruptcy.
Call the Ira Smith Team today so you can finish with the tension and anxiousness debt issues produce. With the unique roadmap, we establish special to you, we will quickly return you right into a healthy and balanced worry-free life.
You can have a no-cost assessment to help you so we can fix your debt issues. Call the Ira Smith Team today. This will certainly allow you to return to being productive and healthy, Starting Over Starting Now.
