I won't bore you with recapping the saga of undischarged bankrupt and malicious defamer Patrick "Hey, girls, I'm still single" Ross, who we all know now owes me over $120,000 after having maliciously defamed me years ago, then unwisely decided to not even defend my lawsuit. The more interesting story is what it will take for Patrick to get out of bankruptcy, and while I've published that he still has an outstanding $25,000 or so on his 2014-issued Conditional Discharge Order (CDO), it turns out that it's more complicated and potentially far uglier for Patrick than that. Let me explain.
The whole point of bankruptcy is that, if your debt far exceeds your assets, you try to convince the judge to let you off with paying a fraction of your debt, after having handed over all of your seizable assets. In Patrick's case, he was ordered to pay a grand total of $34,000 out of a total debt of almost $100,000; again, he stupidly decided not to do that which is why he's in the trouble he is in now. But here's the kicker (and I have written about this before).
After declaring bankruptcy, as you are paying off your CDO, you're not allowed to suddenly come into a pile of money and subsequently keep it all; such a windfall (such as an inheritance) is referred to as "after-acquired assets" and as it would be massively unfair to your creditors for you to get the benefit of bankruptcy while keeping all those assets, they are required to be turned over to the trustee, who can then distribute them to the creditors above and beyond what they are owed due to the CDO.
I will say that again to make sure you understand it -- even if you got a really favourable CDO, your after-acquired assets must be handed over to the trustee, who will then distribute it to the creditors even if that exceeds the amount of the CDO so that, depending on the size of the windfall, the creditors could end up getting the full amount of what you owed them. The principle is simple -- you don't get the benefit of bankruptcy while simultaneously getting to keep all that cash.
If you want proof, I refer you to the 2003 case of one Steven Sindaco, in which Sindaco, owing only $2,500 pursuant to his CDO, while still bankrupt managed to win $500,000 in a lottery, at which time he was told quite clearly that all that dosh was after-acquired assets and his creditors were entitled to the original full amount he owed them.
This brings us, of course, to the case of the aforementioned Patrick Ross who, while he owes only around $25,000 on his CDO, almost certainly got a sizable inheritance when his enabling and psychologically unstable father passed away, and you can see where I'm going with this.
See, based on conversations I have had with the fine folks at Canada's Office of the Superintendent of Bankruptcy, the day Patrick decides to try to get out of bankruptcy, he will first have to get a trustee (doesn't need to be the same one), and the very first thing that trustee will tell Patrick is that he has to get current on all of the missing years of his financial reporting, and that will absolutely include a full and complete list of all after-acquired assets, at which time (as you can see based on the Sindaco ruling) those assets will be distributed to all of his creditors.
It's not clear exactly how this would play out, but I have made it clear to everyone involved that the instant Patrick tries to get out of bankruptcy, the relevant authorities will be asking about any after-acquired assets, including but not limited to inheritance, proceeds from selling property or other assets, and what have you. And if you don't believe me, I suggest reading that Sindaco ruling again.
In any event, as always, let me know what ever you hear about Patrick's latest travels, employment status and accommodations. I want to make sure I'm ready to go when the time comes.
P.S. It's worth noting that there are times when it's hard to say how all of this will play out legally since almost everyone who's come into contact with this case admits they have rarely seen anyone so thoroughly screw himself as badly as Patrick has done. Even as far back as 2014, the bankruptcy registrar -- in issuing her ruling -- described this case with:
After considering the unique facts of this case, the common law principles governing discharge applications and, in particular, the reprehensible nature of the conduct that ultimately created 99% of the debt in this bankruptcy, ...
It is unlikely that Patrick getting out of bankruptcy is going to be either simple or straightforward, given how even the people who deal with bankruptcies on a regular basis are gobsmacked over how uniquely fucked up this is and how contemptuously Patrick has behaved. If Patrick thinks he's going to get any sympathy from the Court, he seriously needs to rethink that.
