Child benefits and bankruptcy
I have a six year old child. Over the past six years I have recieved about 18,000 dollars as child benefits (Canadian child tax benefit , National child benefit supplement , Universal child care benefit , Ontario child care supplement) into my bank account. If I declare bankruptcy , can I exclude that amount of money as `held in trust for child`? Can I transfer the money to my child`s account and protect that money?
Theoretically this money is `family benefit` acould have gone into my spouse`s account or the child`s account and be protected from seizure. Does that protection still apply if the money is in MY account?
I am sorry, but in my opinion, those funds are seizable in bankruptcy. Think of it this way – the money was paid as a benefit to you for your children. You chose to save the money, but at the same time you used credit to maintain the families lifestyle. Now you want to get rid of the credit and keep the benefit – sorry, but I don’t think that will work.
Before you start transferring (hiding) the money, I’d speak to a lawyer. Deliberately transfering money so that your creditors cannot access it is a serious offence.