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If I file bankruptcy what happens to my boat?

I live in a water access only location (no roads) while i have a car ($600) i also have a small boat to get to road. If i go for a bankruptcy will they attach the boat too, without it i would not be able to get to any land or services.

Posted from: British Columbia

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One Response to “If I file bankruptcy what happens to my boat?”

Gareth Slocombe, Trustee | C.I.R.P | C.A said...

In B.C. the exemptions for assets that you can keep are set under the Court Order Enforcement Act. There is an exemption for “one motor vehicle” up to a value of $5,000. The wording of the section is quite specific as to allowing only ”one” motor vehicle. Nonetheless, your circumstances are quite unique. While your car would definitely fit within the exemptions, a second motor vehicle (or boat in this circumstance) would not appear fit in the exemptions, whether motorized or not. Since the intention of the exemptions are to allow a bankrupt to keep some basic form of transportation, I would expect most trustees and the bankruptcy court, if it went that far, would allow your boat as an exempt asset.

So the question would become, which asset do you want to claim as exempt, the car or the boat? If the boat was valued at $2,000 for example, I would claim the boat as exempt and then make an arrangement with the trustee to “buy back” the car from the trustee for $600 prior to your discharge from bankruptcy.