Filing Bankruptcy- Bankruptcy Help with A Bankruptcy Expert

Filing Bankruptcy can be stressful and you will definitely require bankruptcy help and advice from a bankruptcy expert, in other words, a Licenced Insolvency Trustee.

Richard Killen & Associates is a top bankruptcy company in Toronto serving clients across Ontario for over 25 years. We help Canadians who are trapped in debt find the right solution for their specific financial situation and get them back on track to rebuilding their finances and becoming debt-free. Our team of bankruptcy experts includes credit counsellors, advisors, proposal administrators, and Licensed Insolvency Trustees (previously Bankruptcy Trustees) that are trained and licensed by the federal government to help you with your overwhelming debt problems, whether it’s through helping you in declaring bankruptcy or providing debt counselling .

LOCAL BANKRUPTCY SERVICES

We offer a full range of Toronto debt relief solutions to meet our client’s needs, including but not limited to the following.

• Money management advice to help you avoid bankruptcy in the first place,
• Advice about credit card debt, tax debts, and what other types of debts will be absolved in personal bankruptcy,
• Debt advice on secured debts and how you can protect certain assets in a filing,
• Advice on alternatives that can help you eliminate debt when you do not want to declare bankruptcy,
• Debt negotiation services like a consumer proposal to help you negotiate a debt settlement with your unsecured creditors,
• Referrals to local, reputable credit counselling agencies, if applicable to your situation,
• Credit counselling before and after the process, and
• Administration services to help you apply if you decide it is your best solution and manage the entire process until your discharge.

We also offer a variety of bankruptcy solutions for residents in Scarborough West, Scarborough East, Toronto Danforth, Toronto and Etobicoke, Richmond Hill, Brampton Licensed, Mississauga & Cooksville, Mississauga & Erin Mills, Brampton & Georgetown, Pickering, Oshawa and other nearby locations within the Greater Toronto Area.

FILING BANKRUPTCY AND WHEN TO FILE

Several reasons cause people to go into financial difficulty. Unexpected circumstances such as a job loss, sudden reduced income, emergency health problems, or bad spending habits can result in uncontrollable debt that can seem impossible to pay off.

By filing, you can get a fresh financial start. It gives you a chance to start over by providing immediate protection from creditors and by eliminating debt. Your creditors will stop calling, interest will stop accruing on your debts, wage garnishments will stop, other legal actions taken against you will stop and your unsecured debts will be eliminated.

Declaring bankruptcy is usually a good option if you have a few assets and a large amount of unsecured debts. You may file for personal bankruptcy when:

• You have become insolvent
• You owe $1,000 or more in unsecured debts
• You are unable to pay your debt as it becomes due
• You have stopped paying your current debt obligations
• You have more debts than the value of your assets converted into cash

BANKRUPTCY AND INSOLVENCY GENERAL RULES

Insolvency proceedings such as bankruptcies in Canada as well as consumer proposals are regulated by the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act (BIA, also known as The Act). The Office of the Superintendent of Bankruptcy (OSB) is responsible for ensuring that the BIA is carried out in a fair and orderly manner. The Act outlines the laws and requirements that must be followed by all the participants, including the debtor, the creditors, and the Licensed Insolvency Trustee (LIT).

Here are key rules that could be very helpful in your decision to choose bankruptcy as a way out of your debt problems:

• Most unsecured debts will be eliminated, but not all debts are discharged.
• Tax debts are fully dischargeable unless the Canada Revenue Agency has taken steps to secure it.
• RRSP contributions are exempt from seizure except for any contributions made within the last 12 months.
• You lose your tax refund for the year that you declare bankruptcy.
• You can keep personal assets depending on whether there is any equity value on the assets and if they are covered under exemptions.
• Any assets that are exempt from seizure by provincial law cannot be distributed to creditors.
• It is illegal for your employer to terminate your employment simply because you are filing a bankruptcy.
• You are required to reveal all your income during the process and if your income is above a certain threshold in any given month, you will have to make surplus income payments. The process would be longer if there is surplus income – for 21 months for a first-time bankruptcy and 36 months for a second time.
• Secured lenders cannot terminate any existing contract simply because you have filed for bankruptcy.
• Student loans are automatically discharged after seven years.
• As soon as you are declared bankrupt, a legal order known as the “automatic stay” takes effect and will immediately stop wage garnishments, phone calls, and other collection activity, including activity by the CRA, any threat of legal action or legal proceedings that have already been filed by the creditors.
• Once you have become bankrupt you won’t have to deal with your unsecured creditors, negotiations and payments will be dealt with directly by the trustee.

HOW TO FILE BANKRUPTCY- DECLARE BANKRUPTCY

It all starts with a free consultation. You must first meet with a Licensed Insolvency Trustee (LIT) at Richard Killen & Associates. A LIT is a bankruptcy specialist licensed by the OSB to provide bankruptcy help and consumer proposal services in Canada.

A LIT will provide a free assessment of your debt, assets, and income and determine whether your financial situation will qualify you to file for bankruptcy or whether you have other alternatives that will allow you to keep your assets.

Once you decide that declaring bankruptcy is the best way out of debt for you, your trustee will begin work on filing your application. Only an LIT can apply on your behalf and oversee the administration which involves the following steps:

• Preparing all the paperwork and filing the documents with the OSB
• Notifying your creditors
• Dealing and negotiating with your creditors
• Administering your assets, including seizing assets that are not protected by the exemptions, selling these assets, and distributing the funds to your creditors.
• Collecting and distributing your payments to creditors
• Calculating any surplus income payments if applicable
• Providing counselling meetings which you are required to attend as part of your duties
• Overseeing your discharge.

If you are considering bankruptcy and need to obtain legal counsel or financial advice, it is best to speak with a competent bankruptcy professional such as a Licensed Insolvency Trustee who has the training and legal authority to administer insolvency proceedings.

MEET WITH A BANKRUPTCY EXPERT TODAY

At Richard Killen & Associates, we are trusted bankruptcy professionals in the community we have served for more than 25 years. When you meet with us during your first free consultation you can be assured that we will not merely assume that declaring bankruptcy is your only option. We take a bankruptcy filing as an option of last resort. As one of Toronto’s trusted bankruptcy companies, our team takes pride in having the education, experience, and authority to properly help you understand all your options for debt relief, including a consumer proposal, a debt management plan, or a debt consolidation.

During your initial free consultation, a licensed insolvency trustee, who will act as your exclusive bankruptcy advisor, will sit down with you and openly discuss your financial situation and look at the big picture to see how best to help you. You can trust that we won’t hold anything back from you. Your trustee will give you all the information you need, answer any questions you may have, and provide unbiased advice and guidance to help you make the best decision for your financial situation.

Filing bankruptcy is only one option and you must seek bankruptcy advice and help from a bankruptcy expert (LIT) who is the only professional that can provide you with all of the debt relief options.