Bankruptcy and insolvency search

Section 11.1 of the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act requires the Superintendent of Bankruptcy to keep a public record, for the prescribed period, of proposals, bankruptcies, trustee licences and administrator appointments, and receivers’ notices under section 245(1), and to provide information from it on request and payment of the prescribed fee. The Office of the Superintendent of Bankruptcy describes it as a public record of Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act and Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act filings.

Who to search and what to read

• The seller, the corporation, and any person whose personal guarantee backs part of the deal. See searching a guarantor’s bankruptcy record.
• The type of filing. The Office defines bankruptcy as a formal process in which debtors who cannot meet their obligations sign over all of their assets, except those exempt by law, to a Licensed Insolvency Trustee. It defines a division I proposal as a formal procedure in which debtors, working with a Licensed Insolvency Trustee, put together an offer to pay their creditors.
• The trustee named, whom you can ask about the file. See trustee in bankruptcy.

What it leaves out

Section 11.1 lists what the record holds. It does not list debts that never reached a formal process, lawsuits, or security registered against assets. Those need a litigation search and a personal property registry search.