Bankruptcy

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Bankruptcy is the legal process that controls the affairs of an individual who is insolvent; that is, unable to pay his or her debts as those debts fall due.

Being declared bankrupt is a dramatic step that, whilst providing an insolvent person with relief from the pressure of creditors and the chance to start over, will very probably have dramatic and long-lasting consequences such as a poor credit-worthiness rating, the inability to hold a company directorship, the inability to be a principal in or earn an income in certain professions, or even the punishment that accompanies any improper or dishonest conduct uncovered by a Bankruptcy Trustee in the course of a bankruptcy trustee’s mandatory investigation into a person’s pre-bankruptcy conduct.

However, bankruptcy is not the inevitable conclusion that it may have been in the past. Recent changes to the Bankruptcy Act may allow you to avoid bankruptcy by entering into private arrangements with your creditors under Part X of the Act, or by proposing a debt agreement under Part IX of the Act. In both scenarios, you avoid the final, drastic step of bankruptcy itself, but are still released from all debts in a process that is quickly and readily organised. The restrictions of bankruptcy and its usual continuation for three years do not apply.

If you are struggling, or someone you know is struggling in a seemingly terminal spiral of mounting debt, unpaid bills and angry creditors, or if, on the other hand you are a creditor struggling with a delinquent debtor, call us today.