Current law covers three legal proceedings. The first one is bankruptcy itself ("Falência"). Bankruptcy is a court-ordered liquidation procedure for an insolvent business. The final goal of bankruptcy is to liquidate company assets and pay its creditors.
The second one is Court-ordered Restructuring (Recuperação Judicial). The goal is to overcome the business crisis situation of the debtor in order to allow the continuation of the producer, the employment of workers and the interests of creditors, leading, thus, to preserving company, its corporate function and develop economic activity. It's a court procedure required by the debtor which has been in business for more than two years and requires approval by a judge.
The Extrajudicial Restructuring (Recuperação Extrajudicial) is a private negotiation that involves creditors and debtors and, as with court-ordered restructuring, also has to be approved by courts.[21]
Canada
Main article: Insolvency law of Canada
Bankruptcy, also referred to as insolvency in Canada, is governed by the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act and is applicable to businesses and individuals, for example, Target Canada, the Canadian subsidiary of the Target Corporation, the second-largest discount retailer in the United States filed for bankruptcy in January 15, 2015, and closed all of its stores by April 12. The office of the Superintendent of Bankruptcy, a federal agency,
is responsible for overseeing that bankruptcies are administered in a
fair and orderly manner by all licensed Trustees in Canada.Trustees in bankruptcy, 1041 individuals licensed to administer insolvencies, bankruptcy and proposal estates and are governed by the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act of Canada.
Bankruptcy is filed when a person or a company becomes insolvent and cannot pay their debts as they become due and if they have at least $1,000 in debt.
In 2011, the Superintendent of bankruptcy reported that trustees in Canada filed 127,774 insolvent estates. Consumer estates were the vast majority, with 122 999 estates.[22] The consumer portion of the 2011 volume is divided into 77,993 bankruptcies and 45,006 consumer proposals. This represented a reduction of 8.9% from 2010. Commercial estates filed by Canadian trustees in 2011 4,775 estates, 3,643 bankruptcies and 1,132 Division 1 proposals.[23] This represents a reduction of 8.6% over 2010.
- Duties of trustees
- Review the file for any fraudulent preferences or reviewable transactions
- Chair meetings of creditors
- Sell any non-exempt assets
- Object to the bankrupt's discharge
- Distribute funds to creditors
- Creditors' meetings
- To consider the affairs of the bankrupt
- To affirm the appointment of the trustee or substitute another in place thereof
- To appoint inspectors
- To give such directions to the trustee as the creditors may see fit with reference to the administration of the estate.
- Consumer proposals
Main article: Consumer bankruptcy in Canada
In Canada, a person can file a consumer proposal as an alternative to
bankruptcy. A consumer proposal is a negotiated settlement between a
debtor and their creditors.A typical proposal would involve a debtor making monthly payments for a maximum of five years, with the funds distributed to their creditors. Even though most proposals call for payments of less than the full amount of the debt owing, in most cases, the creditors will accept the deal, because if they do not, the next alternative may be personal bankruptcy, where the creditors will get even less money. The creditors have 45 days to accept or reject the consumer proposal. Once the proposal is accepted by both the creditors and the Court, the debtor makes the payments to the Proposal Administrator each month (or as otherwise stipulated in their proposal), and the general creditors are prevented from taking any further legal or collection action. If the proposal is rejected, the debtor is returned to his prior insolvent state and may have no alternative but to declare personal bankruptcy.
A consumer proposal can only be made by a debtor with debts to a maximum of $250,000 (not including the mortgage on their principal residence). If debts are greater than $250,000, the proposal must be filed under Division 1 of Part III of the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act. An Administrator is required in the Consumer Proposal, and a Trustee in the Division I Proposal (these are virtually the same although the terms are not interchangeable). A Proposal Administrator is almost always a licensed trustee in bankruptcy, although the Superintendent of Bankruptcy may appoint other people to serve as administrators.
In 2006, there were 98,450 personal insolvency filings in Canada: 79,218 bankruptcies and 19,232 consumer proposals.[24]
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