Personal Bankruptcy

No – you must use a licenced trustee in bankurptcy.

There are two simple reasons why this is required. The first is a practical concern. Legally when you file for bankruptcy you are signing over your rights to the things you own to your bankrupt estate. If you could process your own bankrupcy then yuo’d be signing the things you own over to yourself – it doesn’t make sense. So a third party is needed.

If you are going to deal witha third party the government decided years ago to make sure those persons were properly trianed and monitorred – that is how the licencing of trustees came about. Ther are approximately 900 licenced trustees in Canada, only about half of which actually deal with the public. It is a difficult licence to obtain and the government maintains quite rigorous standards on the operation of trustee offices.

All of this is to make certain that the bankrupcy process is administered properly for the benefit of the general public.