Pre-Judicial Extrajudicial Procedure.

Ordinance No. 349/2015. Regulates the computer platform to support the pre-judicial extrajudicial procedure. Amends Articles 2 and 3 of Ordinance No. 282/2013, of August 29, which regulates various aspects of civil enforcement actions. Repeals Ordinance No. 233/2014, of November 14. DR 200, Série I, de 13 de outubro de 2015. Ver documento

02 DE Outubro,2015

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Insolvency Qualification Incident – Appeal

Judgment of the Constitutional Court No. 280/2015. Deems the law extracted from the combined provisions of Article 15 of the Insolvency and Corporate Recovery Code and Articles 304, first part and 629 (1) of the Code of Civil Procedure interpreted in the Meaning that there is no appeal against decisions rendered in the insolvency qualification incident whose value, determined by the debtor’s assets, is lower than that of the court of first instance. DR 115, Série II, de 16 de junho de 2015.

17 DE Julho,2015

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More than 12,000 families went bankrupt last year.

More than 12,000 families went bankrupt last year. Only in Porto were 30% Private insolvency has declined. Even so, they are almost triple Bárbara Barroso | 1/17/2015 | 00:00   The difficulty in paying all the debts and getting (over) living, especially in the current context of crisis, led more than 12 thousand Portuguese to declare bankruptcy. The Porto region accounted for 30% of all private bankruptcies. “The justification that the Oporto district has more personal insolvencies is due to the fact that there is a predominance of individual entrepreneurs and traders in this geographical area who are more subject to the economic recession that is felt at national and international level” , Explained lawyer Paulo Lopes Cardoso. At national level last year 12,775 people were declared insolvent in court (35 per day on average), a slight decrease of 3% over the previous year. Still, only families account for 74% of all bankruptcies aggregating individuals and companies. The numbers are from the Instituto Informador Comercial (IIC), a credit management consultant who calculates daily business and individual insolvencies through the Diário da República dispatches. Oporto is the region with the most cases of insolvency (3809), followed by Lisbon (2418) and Setúbal (1075). In these three regions, the trends were downward. Madeira, Castelo Branco and the Azores led the private insolvency increases last year (up 20%, 16% and 15%, respectively). Fernando Antas da Cunha, Miranda’s consultant, points out as causes for insolvency: “The increase in unemployment, the drastic cut in disposable income of families, and the generalized increase in the tax burden.” Ricardo Felgueiras, a lawyer specializing in insolvency, explained that “there are cases of people with more than 19 creditors. In fact, people even want to pay, do not know is how.” One of the justifications for a slight fall in insolvencies may be related to the Special Revitalization Process (PER), created by the government in 2012. It is a tool whose main objective is to recover the economic situation of a debtor who is Insolvency or economic hardship. The figures show that, last year, the number of households that used this mechanism more than doubled to 1155. “The pre-insolvency phase is, in most cases, a phase of fierce competition between creditors. In an attempt to recover their credit first, collection procedures, executive actions and liens to the debtor’s assets proliferate. In this measure, personal insolvency has a strong component of insolvency protection, trying to balance the satisfaction of creditors with the financial rehabilitation of the citizen, “said Catarina Cristóvão, from the CCA Ontier office . Type of insolvency When an individual can no longer pay debts, or resort to the PER, he has two options in insolvency: the judicial payment plan or liability exemption. The person has to submit a proposal for payment and a deadline to do so according to his possibilities. The judge will serve as an intermediary for the renegotiation of debts. Lenders may or may not accept. However, as soon as the process comes in, the credits are all suspended. For the approval of the payment plan, it is enough that creditors representing two-thirds of the debt accept that the whole plan be approved. In case they do not accept, the request for exemption of liabilities can be made. The advantage of the payment plan is that the person can maintain the entire estate upon payment agreed upon with the creditors. But, on the other hand, it is more demanding since the person can not fail these payments. Passive exoneration is what the Americans call ‘fresh start’. For five years, all income is managed by a court-appointed (fiduciary) representative and is the one who manages the insolvency. In this period, one has to live with what the court has defined as essential and the rest is channeled to pay off debts. The assets are used to pay off the debts. But, for example, an unemployed person may not pay anything. In these five years, any change in income – loss of employment, birth of a child, inheritance, etc. – must be reported to the trustee and then revalued the amount to be paid, which may be more or less. Anyone who asks for exemption from liability is required not to leave employment without justification and, if he is unemployed, to seek employment. After five years, all debts are forgiven – with the exception of tax debts.    

22 DE Abril,2015

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