SHIKI-NO-KAZE LAW GROUP

DEBT RELIEF

If you are having a hard time making ends meet because you have to make large amount of repayments to your creditor every month, you may get relief by:

■　Out-of-Court Restructuring

Attorney will negotiate with your creditors to reduce and/or restructure your debts.

■　Civil Rehabilitation

If the amount of your debts is so large that you may not be able to repay the full amount of your debts even if you restructure them, but you have a steady income and do not want to bankrupt, you may request the court for civil rehabilitation, in which the amount of your debts may be reduced to 20 percent or more of their original amount, and you repay that amount in installments within 3 to 5 years. If you successfully complete the repayment of the reduced amount, you will be discharged from the legal obligation to repay rest of the amount.

■　Bankruptcy

If you do not have enough income or assets to repay your debts and you would not be able to repay them even if they were reduced by civil rehabilitation, you may apply for bankruptcy and discharge of all your debts.

• Purpose of Bankruptcy
  The purpose of bankruptcy is to liquidate the debtor’s assets and repay fairly to all the creditors. After the bankruptcy procedure, the debtor may be discharged from legal obligation to further repay the creditors; thereby he/she may make a fresh start financially.
• Complete Disclosure
  In the bankruptcy procedure, you must disclose all your debts as well as all your assets, including, but not limited to, bank savings, stocks, life insurance, real estate, automobile, and right to receive retirement fund.
• Assets you can retain
  You can retain some of your assets even after bankruptcy, such as cash up to 990,000 YEN. However, if you have assets worth more than 200,000 Yen, a receiver will be appointed by the court to oversee your bankruptcy procedure and you will be required to pay his/fee of 200,000 YEN.
• The court may appoint a receiver for your case if you:
  1. Have assets worth more than 200,000 Yen;
  2. Have real estate;*
  3. Are/were a business owner;
  4. The total amount of debts is over 10 million Yen;
  5. Have done any action that could be subject to invalidation by receiver; and/or
  6. Have any reasons for the court not to grant discharge.

* If the amount of unpaid mortgage on the real property is 1.5 times larger or more than the market value of that real property, a receiver may not be appointed.

If none of 1-5 above is applicable, the court may choose to omit the procedure to liquidate your assets to repay your creditor.