bewildered

Unfortunately it is not up to the trustee to determine who should or should not file a bankruptcy. Over the years I have often had people that I have clearly outlined that a Bankruptcy is not the best course of action and they have chosen to ignore that advice and proceed with a file anyway. As well, it is often not a clear cut as many assume, I have had a large number of clients who have had significant income, and as a result of the unstable nature of their job, the unwillingness of creditors to cooperate, the presence of multiple garnishee’s or perhaps deteriorating health they have ultimately had no other choice. As for the choices these people make during a bankruptcy (i.e. choosing to go on unemployment), there is nothing in the legislation that permits a trustee to have recourse in these types of situations. I suppose the only recourse that may be plausible is to take the debtor to court and attempt to obtain a determination that this behavior itself would be considered fraudulent, the difficult is that this type of fraud would be very difficult (and expensive) to prove and ultimately I cannot justify the costs to creditors based on the likelihood of success. Having said that I agree this is a difficult situation to rectify and I for one do not know what the best solution to this is and have admittedly chalked it up to one of those minor difficulties associated with a democracy. If you do have any suggestions I would love to hear them but would encourage any suggestions on legislative change also be made to your local member of parliament as it is the governmental representatives that ultimately create and approve the system. Further I can assure you that of the many people I see on a regular basis, this type of situation is very much a minor component of the whole, and but for a few exceptions most people truly are ashamed of the situation they are in and would much prefer to pay everyone in full.