Tag: Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act

Categories
Brandon Blog Post

HIDING YOUR ASSETS IN A BANKRUPTCY COULD LAND YOU IN PRISON

hiding your assets, Bankruptcy, bankruptcy alternatives, Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act, bankruptcy court, bankruptcy file, Criminal Code, Office of the Superintendent of Bankruptcy, declaring bankruptcy, trustee, trustees, what is bankruptcyIf you think that hiding your assets in a bankruptcy is a good way to hang onto your property; think again. This is not a minor matter. In fact it’s a violation of the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act (BIA) and the Criminal Code and it’s punishable by hefty fines and/or prison time. You will find yourself in a world of trouble if you:

  • Fraudulently dispose of property before or after the bankruptcy
  • Make false entries in a statement of account or hide, destroy or falsify a document related to your property or affairs
  • Conceal or fraudulently remove property, or conceal claims or debts
  • Refuse to respond fully and truthfully to questions posed during an examination held in accordance with the BIA

Committing fraud against the government is never a good idea and the likelihood is that you will get caught. The Office of the Superintendent of Bankruptcy (OSB) identifies possible offences through its detection programs or through complaints received from creditors, trustees or the public. When the OSB has reason to believe that an offence has been committed, it sends the file to one of its three special investigation units. The investigation units work closely with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) and in some cases files are transferred to the RCMP. The OSB encourages people to report fraudulent activities that relate to a bankruptcy file and they even have a toll free number to call or use an affordable background check USA 1-877-376-9902.

In addition to fines and/or prison time, if you hide your assets from the bankruptcy court:

  • You will not be able to discharge your debts
  • The trustee can revoke your discharge and those debts cannot be discharged in subsequent bankruptcies

Still think that hiding your assets in a good idea?

Honesty is always the best policy. If you are thinking of declaring bankruptcy, contact Ira Smith Trustee & Receiver as soon as possible. We will guide you through the process and Starting Over, Starting Now get you well on your way to living a debt free life.

Categories
Brandon Blog Post

SHOULD SOCIAL MEDIA BE USED TO DETERMINE YOUR CREDIT SCORE?

bad credit, Bankruptcy, bankruptcy alternatives, Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act, bankruptcy in Canada, bankruptcy in ontario, bankruptcy ontario, bankruptcy protection, bankruptcy trustees, Consumer Proposal, consumer proposals, credit report, credit score, credit scores, debt management, debt settlement, declaring bankruptcy, Facebook and LinkedIn, social media, social networks, what is a consumer proposalAre you experiencing problems with debt management or having trouble getting credit due to a bankruptcy or a consumer proposal? If so, you are going to be delighted to hear that there are companies who believe that online reputations can tell lenders more about a person’s trustworthiness than the traditional credit score. Your credit score is established on the basis of how you pay your bills while companies like Lenddo and Neo Finance are analyzing data from social networks like Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn, and other factors to reach people who have a hard time getting loans. The Lenddo score is based upon:

  • Number of followers
  • Background of peers
  • Education and employers
  • Repayment history of friends

The Neo Finance score is based upon the following information in a person’s LinkedIn profile:

  • How long the user has held jobs
  • The number and quality of connections in their industry
  • The seniority of their connections

Should social media be used to determine your credit score? Probably not. Basing anything on the number of social media followers is categorically unreliable. Social media networks have become a numbers game where there is the mistaken belief that “whoever has the most, wins”. Fake Twitter followers have become a multi-million dollar business. Open networkers on LinkedIn have thousands of followers that they don’t know and the same goes for people who collect Facebook friends. The other problem is that the consumer would have to be willing to connect the financial service to their social media networks’ data which of course brings up privacy issues. Although in theory, this sounds like an interesting idea, I’m afraid that there is no quick fix for bad credit.

If you are experiencing problems with debt management or having trouble getting credit due to a bankruptcy or a consumer proposal, contact Ira Smith Trustee & Receiver Inc. for information on how to fix bad credit so that you can live a debt free life Starting Over, Starting Now.

Categories
Brandon Blog Post

I’ll fix my ex, I’ll go bankrupt – do bankruptcy and divorce work?

Bankruptcy, Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act, bankruptcy in Canada, Consumer Proposal, Family Court, spousal support, bankruptcy and divorce“Ah, yes, divorce . . . from the Latin word meaning to rip out a man’s genitals through his wallet”. Robin Williams

Does bankruptcy and divorce together work?

The movies “War of the Roses” and “First Wives Club” were great comedies, but they were also sad commentaries on how down and dirty some divorces can really get. There seems to be no length that some people, mostly husbands, will go to in order to avoid paying or minimizing spousal support. Some of these divorce warriors would even declare bankruptcy in the mistaken belief that a bankruptcy and divorce in Canada will prove to the Family Court that with no assets and minimal if any income, they should be freed from the shackles of spousal support payments.

Declaring bankruptcy will not absolve you of spousal and child support. So for that purpose, bankruptcy and divorce don’t work together. In fact, the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act defines support payments as one obligation that is not discharged by a bankruptcy and bankruptcy may make things worse. Family Courts tend to look at the bankrupt spouse as better able to keep current on their support payments now that they have been absolved of their debts. Bankruptcy legislation and the Bankruptcy Court tend not to interfere with or attempt to alter the normal outcome in Family Court. The only way to vary a support order is through the rules and procedures of the Family Court. So for this example, bankruptcy and divorce may hurt, not help.

Being an undischarged bankrupt will have no sway with the Family Court when it comes to support. The Family Court will look at the lifestyle the family enjoyed prior to the separation date and the income of the spouses prior to the bankruptcy date as being more indicative of the lifestyle to be enjoyed by the parties in the future. So again, bankruptcy and divorce doesn’t work hand-in-hand.

Bankruptcy and divorce will not remove your obligation to pay child or spousal support. In addition bankruptcy and divorce will not remove your obligation to pay any arrears that may have accumulated. Therefore, bankruptcy and divorce is not a quick fix or panacea to avoid Family Law support obligations. However, if you have other debts that are crushing you or you are insolvent, we can help. Contact Ira Smith Trustee & Receiver to tackle your financial problems Starting Over, Starting Now.

Call a Trustee Now!