Why Opt With a Bankruptcy Trustee in Mississauga, Ontario

A bankruptcy trustee in Mississauga, Ontario, will help you deal with bankruptcy issues and give you essential financial advice. When it’s your first time encountering bankruptcy, it’s best to talk to trustees before you make your next move.

These are professionals who have more knowledge and experience in bankruptcy. They can give you timely advice and warn you about things you should not be doing that could complicate your situation further.

When you file for bankruptcy, a trustee will be appointed for you. They are in charge of various roles, such as handling assets and communicating with creditors. You will also need to talk with your agent to discuss how you want to proceed with your bankruptcy case.

What Does a Bankruptcy Trustee Do?

Your trustee will have administrative control over your property or business assets. They are also responsible for administering properties impartially to businesses or individuals. It’s required for debtors to be upfront about their assets to their trustees.

A bankruptcy agent is someone who specializes in bankruptcy cases and is tasked with overseeing the case. You need to know that agents will always be on the debtor’s side but will also make a fair deal with your creditors.

These are also reasons why you should be open with your financial information to a trustee. They will ensure that you don’t lose a significant portion of your business or finances and will survive bankruptcy effects.

Roles and Responsibilities of a Trustee

You will want to know their roles and responsibilities when you get appointed as a bankruptcy trustee. Below are some prominent roles your agent will have to take over once you begin working on them for your bankruptcy case.

1. Administration and Distribution of Assets

One of the most critical factors to consider when filing your bankruptcy case is which assets should stay with you. It will be your trustee's job to determine which investments will be used to repay your debt and which ones will stay with you.

Your agent has full legal authority to manage your or your business' assets. They can also take over your daily financial matters when you need a representative. Your trustee will represent you before creditors, so you won't have to meet the former.

It will also be under the trustee’s control for your case's distribution, record keeping, and legal interpretation. You can also include roles such as managing trust assets, creating financial reports, and initiating transactions.

2. Reassessment of Trust Objectives

Asset management is crucial when it comes to handling bankruptcy cases. You will need a trustee to be responsible for the investment of your assets as well as preserving some of them. It’s critical to choose someone with enough experience to ensure that your assets are well invested.

Every individual has unique circumstances when it comes to bankruptcy cases. That’s why you can't expect all trustees to do the same thing. Their roles and responsibilities will also vary depending on what will benefit them the most.

One of a trustee's essential roles is to reassess your trust's objectives. They will also have to be on the lookout for sudden changes in the market. Your agent will have to help you adjust whenever the market shifts.

3. Dealing With Investment Management

Your trustee can also hire managers to take care of your daily financial activities. Investment management also happens in bankruptcy, and you must trust your agent well to hire a manager fit for the role.

It’s also essential that you trust the financial advisor that your agent picks. The goal is that a professional looks over your financial situation daily and reports on how you are doing in the financial and asset departments.

Preparing your appropriate tax returns will also be under the manager’s work. You don't have to deal with accounting work when you have an investment management professional do the job for you. They ensure that tax returns in your accounting comply with federal laws.

4. Follows Your Decisions

You don't have to worry about which person your bankruptcy agent follows; it will always be you, the debtor. As trustees are assigned to you, they will help move the case in your favor. That’s why you're working with them in the first place. Your agent can represent you efficiently.

Even if the trustees are always talking to and trying to appease your creditors, they will never agree to conditions that are not in your favor. Remember that your trustee knows your financial situation more than anyone else.

Your trustee's job is to ensure you can repay your creditors in the best way possible. Even if your case is for bankruptcy, there are times when you can avoid it entirely and still pay back what you owe.

5. Handles Legal Interpretation of Documents

Only some people are well-versed when it comes to legal papers. In many cases, trustees will need to break down the legal documents for the debtors to understand. You can always make your bankruptcy filing easier by working with a responsible trustee.

They will be the ones to acquire the legal papers and simplify them for you to understand. It’s a critical job to ensure that every debtor understands the situation that they’re in and the possible options they can take.

Your trustee will legally interpret the language used in your documents. They will also collect and record appropriate input from your family members. Not only that but trustees are also the ones to help your case conform to legal rules and requirements.

Saving Yourself From Bankruptcy

Some people think that bankruptcy is a last resort. It’s not always the case since many things can happen, and once your case is reviewed thoroughly, you are given more opinions. The great thing about other options is that they won't hurt your records, and you can repay your creditors.

There’s nothing wrong with filing for bankruptcy when you know it’s the best way to get rid of your debts. What’s essential is that you take the necessary steps and understand the risks involved. Your trustee will be there to guide you along the way.

You’d be surprised that other options, such as debt settlement and consolidation, could potentially save you from bankruptcy. However, your choice will depend on you and the bankruptcy trustee in Mississauga, Ontario, that you work with.

Settling Your Case With a Bankruptcy Trustee Scarborough

Work with a bankruptcy trustee in Scarborough when you file for bankruptcy. Once you file your case, you must follow the proceedings. It could confuse first-timers, but things can get easier with a trustee.

An important thing to note is that collection calls will be immediately stopped after filing. Your creditors won’t be able to harass you to pay back what you owe. You can also notify your place of work to halt any wage garnishment that occurs.

Next, you should ensure you can make the bankruptcy payments required. That’s where your trustee enters the picture, since they will be the ones to negotiate your settlement and decide which assets will go toward reducing your credit.

Trusting Your Bankruptcy Trustee

You don't have to experience stress and anxiety when filing for bankruptcy. The process is easy if you have a professional to guide you. The point of working with an insolvency agent is to make the bankruptcy process go smoothly for all parties.

Both the creditors and the debtors want to get through bankruptcy as soon as possible. That is why your insolvency agent will want to work closely with you and your creditors. They will always be on the debtor’s side and negotiate with creditors in your favor.

Trustees overall want a fair deal between the creditors and the debtors. They will help suggest options you’ve approved to your creditors and vice versa. Once both parties have agreed on the conditions, you are ready to work with your insolvency agent to choose an asset for sale.

How a Trustee Helps You 

In general, insolvency agents need to fulfill standard tasks for every debtor they get assigned to. Depending on the status of your bankruptcy case, the number of your assets, and how many creditors you have, your insolvency agent will have more than one or two roles to play. Below are some responsibilities you can expect from a bankruptcy trustee.

1. Conducting the Meeting of Creditors

It’s the trustee’s responsibility to conduct a meeting with creditors. No bankruptcy judge needs to attend. You will need to attend the first meeting to avoid case dismissal. After the initial session, you can sit the remaining meetings afterward.

Likewise, not all creditors are required to attend the meeting. At the meeting, your insolvency agent must check your ID and other documents. Trustees must ask questions regarding the bankruptcy case and its paperwork.

The creditors present can ask questions regarding the financial matters involved in the case. Trustees will take the initiative to ask about anything that could affect your bankruptcy case. Most of the questions at the meeting will involve your income, assets, debts, and expenses.

2. Reviewing Your Assets

Trustees are tasked with reviewing the debtor’s assets. Not all debtors are aware of the assets that they can sell and those that they can keep. It’s also challenging for debtors to determine what can be considered their assets or not.

When you have an insolvency agent to work with, you can simply ask them to review your properties. They will check whether you have non-exempt assets and assets that are protected by an exemption. Your trustee will help you determine what exemptions can be claimed when you file your case.

It will also be part of your insolvency agent’s job to review and confirm the information in your bankruptcy forms. They will have to explain what instructions or terms you don't understand. You must understand everything about your insolvency details for the case to succeed.

3. Recovering Debt Payments

You’d be surprised to learn that trustees can also recover debt payments. Getting your payments back is possible if you’ve paid an unsecured debt within 90 days of filing your bankruptcy case.

That happens to ensure that every creditor gets a fair share of the payment deal. Your trustee wouldn’t want any creditor that was preferred over the rest. The great thing about returning your payments is that you can still get them back, even if they were garnished from your wages.

When the creditor is related to you or a friend, the insolvency agent can recover payments within 12 months of your filing for bankruptcy. You can always ask your trustee which creditors to prioritize and which payments you can take back.

4. Double Checking Your Forms

You must file for bankruptcy by filling out various forms with accurate data. The trustee’s job is to review your answers to see if you might have provided the wrong information. It’s crucial since you want everything on the forms to coincide with your financial data.

Filing a case can be challenging for debtors to go through the information alone, so insolvency agents with more experience and knowledge of the procedure are tasked with taking over. Trustees are also responsible for looking at your tax returns and paycheck records.

Always be honest about your financial information to your trustees. You don't want to look like you're hiding assets or avoiding taxes. Once trustees find discrepancies in your information, they can request a criminal investigation against you.

5. Recovering Property

It’s not only payments that trustees can recover but property as well. When you have property that’s sold or given away to creditors, your insolvency agent can recover it when it meets the requirements.

One requirement is that the property should have been sold for less than its actual value. When your trustee confirms this, they can take back your property because it was obtained at a lesser value. The transfer could be called fraudulent when they see how the creditors have taken advantage of the debtor.

Your trustee will recover and sell the property to help you pay your unsecured loans. Usually, these properties are non-exempt assets, meaning they can be sold to repay your debts. You can always ask your trustee how they chose the properties.

Options For Bankruptcy Cases

If you find yourself in a tight spot financially, it doesn't mean that bankruptcy is the only way out. Your licensed insolvency trustee can suggest other debt payment options for you. Contrary to what some might think, bankruptcy trustees can advise you not to take the bankruptcy option.

However, every debtor’s situation is different from another. That's why you should always be open to options while gathering data to file for bankruptcy. The best thing to do is consult with your insolvency agent.

Trustees will help assess your financial status and give you the most effective debt relief option for you to use. However, if you still choose bankruptcy, your insolvency agent will assist you in filing bankruptcy successfully. Look for a bankruptcy trustee in Scarborough that you can trust and discuss your bankruptcy options with them.