519-646-2222I can only go bankrupt once!
We are not sure what the upper limited on the number of filings is but the most we have seen is five times.
There are a lot of urban myths about the bankruptcy process and many folks believe, erroneously, that bankruptcy is some sort of a once in a lifetime opportunity to get out of debt – “I can only go bankrupt once”. The Bankruptcy & Insolvency Act does not impose a limit on how many times a person can go bankrupt, but it does contemplate systemic abuse.
There are some minor consequences for filing more than one bankruptcy, but there can also be punitive repercussions. After a second bankruptcy is filed, all bankrupts must attend at court for a discharge hearing. The idea is that people should not be using bankruptcy to deliberately avoid paying their creditors. Nonetheless, misfortune may happen to some people more than once and they shouldn’t be denied relief for no good reason.