Bankruptcy

Initial Assessment: The process begins with an assessment of your financial situation by our experienced team. We’ll evaluate your assets, income, and outstanding debts to determine if bankruptcy is the right course of action for you.

Declaring Bankruptcy: If bankruptcy is the recommended option, you’ll need to formally declare bankruptcy by submitting the necessary paperwork to the Australian Financial Security Authority (AFSA). This declaration will initiate the legal process. We can provide guidance with completing the forms. When you lodge your completed forms, you will need to select a trustee, like Anna Odrzywolska at BT Acumen, to manage your bankrupt estate. If you don’t select a trustee, AFSA will appoint a trustee.

Immediate Debt Relief: As soon as your completed forms are processed by AFSA, you are given an administration number, and your creditors are notified. From this point, your unsecured creditors must stop contacting you about repaying the debt and you can stop making payments to all unsecured creditors. Secured creditors are treated a little differently. You can stop paying them also, but if you do you may have to surrender the secured asset to the creditor. Because you no longer have to pay creditors, bankruptcy provides immediate relief from the burden of repayments. However, certain assets may be sold to repay creditors, and you may be required to make income contributions if your income exceeds a certain threshold. There are other important obligations and effects on a person whilst they are bankrupt and our team at BT Acumen will explain all of this to you.