The Rebecca Martyn Bankruptcy Windsor Blog

I received an email from someone asking about getting more information about personal bankruptcy.  For starters, he came to a good website.  This website lists some answers to some of the most common questions I get asked.

The emailer can also visit www.hoyes.com.  That website lists a lot of information about bankruptcy in easy to understand terms.  There are various pages on our website outlining the bankruptcy process.  He can also read about what assets he can keep, how his income will affect the bankruptcy process and what debts survive bankruptcy. 

I also suggested that he visit the website of the Office of the Superintendent of Bankruptcy at http://strategis.ic.gc.ca/epic/site/bsf-osb.nsf/en/h_br01223e.html  The Office of the Superintendent of Bankruptcy is a federal is government agency that overseas the bankruptcy process in Canada. 

I told him that if he wants to discuss personal bankruptcy specifically about his situation, he should call me or email me his specific question. 

I met with a gentleman the other day and in discussing if a consumer proposal was right for him, he wanted to know if filing the consumer proposal would cause him to lose his house.

My first question to him was to find out if he was overdue on his mortgage.  In his case he was 3 months late.  The bank had also sent him a notice demanding payment by a certain date.  In his case, since he is already late and he cannot get caught up the proposal will not cause him to lose his house, the fact that he was 3 months behind will cause him to lose the house.

Let’s compare this now with a married couple I met with.  They are not in arrears on their mortgage. They filed their consumer proposal, it was accepted and they have made all of their consumer proposal payments on time.  They have continued to make the mortgage payments and are still living the same house.  The mortgagor (the person who they make payments to) is not allowed to cancel the mortgage simply because they filed a consumer proposal, the law doesn’t allow it.  As a courtesy, the day before they filed the consumer proposal, they called the mortgagor just to let them know what they were doing and that they planned to keep paying their mortgage payments.

When meeting with the married couple, I warned them to make sure that all of their future mortgage payments are made on time. Mortgage renewal is not an automatic right.  If they are late on any payments, the mortgagor could refuse to renew the mortgage.  If you have been good with your payments, it is unlikely the mortgagor will be concerned.

If you would like to review your situation, call me or send me an email.