More and more people want to declare consumer bankruptcy. You can do this if you have incurred debts due to illness or accident, for example, and not by taking out a loan on credit. In the first quarter of this year, district courts that handle cases consumer bankruptcy (in our region, Bydgoszcz and Toruń) issued 69 such resolutions. In the whole of 2016, there were 404 of them.
After the amendment to the Bankruptcy and Restructuring Law, which came into force on 1 January 2015, everyone can afford to file an application to the district court (commercial division), because it costs only PLN 30. Remuneration the trustee is much lower than in the case of companies, and incomparably cheaper than paying a bailiff. The trustee cannot earn less than one-fourth of the average monthly salary in the corporate sector or more than twice its value. In exceptional situations, when the proceedings are complicated or the trustee has to deal with many creditors, the court may increase his remuneration to four times the average salary.
If someone does not have the money for the costs of the bankruptcy proceedings, the judge may decide that the Treasury will cover them initially and that the consumer will pay as the plan is implemented.
In order for the court to decide on consumer bankruptcy, the debtor should be insolvent and the reasons for this must be beyond the debtor's control and be due to fortuitous situations, such as a serious illness or an accident at work. The court will not agree to a declaration of bankruptcy if someone has taken out loans knowing that he or she will not repay them, or has caused a financial disaster through negligence. Soon these restructuring provisions are to be relaxed too, and the government is working on another amendment to the law.
