As the debtor, you will be declared a bankrupt if the court makes a bankruptcy order against you.
You will need to fulfil duties as a bankrupt. Examples include:
Refer to Section 399(1) of the Insolvency, Restructuring and Dissolution Act (IRDA) for more information.
Find out more about the duties and restrictions as a bankrupt.
The trustee can be the Official Assignee or a private trustee, depending on your case.
The trustee will:
You will first need to submit to the trustee a Statement of Affairs, which describes your assets (what you own) and liabilities (what you owe). You must also provide other information about your employment, income and dependants truthfully.
The trustee can also advise you on other matters such as:
What happens after the bankruptcy order depends on who your assigned trustee is.
If the Official Assignee is your assigned trustee, you will need to complete the following within 21 days after the date of your bankruptcy order:
The Official Assignee will give further instructions on what you need to do. Find out more on the Ministry of Law's website.
If a private trustee in bankruptcy is appointed as your trustee, you must submit a Statement of Affairs within 21 days after the date of your bankruptcy order. Contact the private trustee for more information on submitting the Statement of Affairs.
After you are declared a bankrupt, your creditors cannot start court proceedings against you to recover debts that you owed them before you were declared bankrupt.
You may wish to inform your creditors of your bankruptcy status if they send you a notice of court action or a letter of demand for payment of such debts, or approach you to ask you to repay such debts.
Refer to the Ministry of Law's website for more information.
There is no automatic way to be released from bankruptcy in Singapore. However, you may get out of bankruptcy in one of the following ways:
The information here is for general guidance as the courts do not provide legal advice. If you need further help, you may want to get independent legal advice.
Find out moreYour assets will be vested in a court-appointed trustee, who will manage your financial affairs. You cannot sell or deal with any of your assets or items of value. The trustee will be responsible for doing so.
Assets include anything of value belonging to you either at the date of your bankruptcy, or obtained after that date. This includes gifts you receive.
There are certain types of assets that are protected from creditors, such as your Housing & Development Board (HDB) flat or Central Provident Fund (CPF) account funds. For more information, refer to the Ministry of Law's website.
Both the Official Assignee and the private trustee have the same responsibilities. Private trustees are expected to act in good faith and are subject to an annual review by the Official Assignee.
The court may appoint a private trustee to manage a bankrupt's financial affairs in either of these scenarios:
If you wish to object to the appointment of the private trustee, you will need to raise your objections to the court and explain your reasons for objecting.
While your desire to delete such records is understandable, court records cannot be deleted due to the law. If you were granted a discharge from bankruptcy, this will be shown in the records.
Such court records are open to search by members of the public, except in some circumstances described in Rule 184(2) of the Insolvency, Restructuring and Dissolution (Personal Insolvency) Rules.
You may wish to speak to the relevant bank officers as each bank has its own policy regarding loan applications made by discharged bankrupts.