Paying a Family Member Before Bankruptcy
February 18, 2010 by Judy Scott
Q: IF I owe a friend or family member can I pay him/her back with any available funds before I file for bankruptcy.
No, that can actually cause you problems in a bankruptcy.  One of the basic elements of bankruptcy is that you have to treat all of your creditors the same.  If you choose one creditor and pay them but leave the others to be dealt with in the bankruptcy, that's considered to be unfair.  If you do this (especially if it's with a related party), it's pretty likely that you'll have trouble getting your Discharge (which is the final step in a bankruptcy - it's the step that extinguishes your debts and 'sets you free.')  In most cases, the court will require you to pay into the bankruptcy an amount equal to what you paid to the family member before they will give you your discharge.

Judy A. Scott - Trustee
Port Moody - Burnaby
British Columbia
604-949-2113
judy.scott@mnp.ca

Approved comments

There are currently no approved comments for this post.

Post a comment

Email Address:    



Your comments:
MNP Blog Privacy Disclaimer.