My fiance was recently diagnosed as bipolar. Over the past few years when he was not diagnosed and very ill he accumulated about 30K in unsecured debt and 50K in income tax. He functions well at work (except when he cycles into deep/suicidal depression) and outisde of work is not really able to focus, function or deal with any stress. He is being sued, harassed and CCRA has frozen his bank account. He has finally been relatively stabilized on medication and has been offered a position at 80K in his field. Will his work find out if he declares bankruptcy? Will bankruptcy unfreeze his bank account so he can get paid by direct deposit? Is there any clemency that can be sought? He has aggreed for the futureto have a bookkeeper deal with bills and so forth. I'm worried that even the stress of this will sending him "cycling' down again - CCRA did not give a hoot when we called and the Trustee he had a free consultaion with was synical and unempathetic. How does he (with my help) navigate this process with his neurotransmitters intact?!?!

Generally, a person's employer won't know about the bankruptcy unless the payroll department needs to be advised to lift a garnishee. With the filing of the bankruptcy, a Stay of Proceedings goes into effect which will stop the freeze on his bank account. Unfortunately, CCRA is reluctant to negotiate deals directly with taxpayers but your fiancé may be able to do a proposal through a Trustee under the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act. We have done many successful proposals at Alger & Associates. If you had a negative experience with one Trustee, please call another to find someone with whom you feel comfortable. There is a solution to your fiance's situation.

Ann Clarke
phone: (403) 296-2972
aclarke@moneyhelp.ca