Consumer Bankruptcy : Mainly from the Viewpoint of Discharge(Symposium on "Prolonged Recession and the Consumer")
2004 Volume 41 Issue 1 Pages 209-231
Details
2004 Volume 41 Issue 1 Pages 209-231
The current state of the consumer bankruptcy was first taken up from the official statistics and, next, was taken up bankrupt's legal status and, the bankruptcy discharge that is the most important theme in the consumer bankruptcy was taken up at the end. First of all, 2003 year is 221,741 in the number of the voluntary bankruptcy of the natural person who seems the nearest number of consumer bankruptcies. It has increased by 30,325 more than the previous year. If the average bankrupt image in the consumer bankruptcy is briefly brought together based on the investigation in 2002, the ratio of the man and woman is almost in halves, the age is about 45.8 years old on the average,the occupation is salaried employee including the part-time job etc,the revenue is about 105,000 yen in month, and the reason why they went bankrupt is that the hard living and the low income are major causes. The indebtedness is about 24 million yen. Next, it is possible to divide into a legal disadvantage and a social disadvantage roughly as a disadvantage to the bankrupt caused as an effect of the adjudication. Continuously bankrupt's right and duty were described. The right includes the right of the discharge and so on. There is a bankrupt's duty of accountability of details that went bankrupt. And there is also a cooperation duty to the bankruptcy proceeding and the discharge procedure. Finally, the discharge makes the bankrupt free from the debt except some expections, he owed at the time of bankruptcy order. The discharge is positioned as a system that has an important function of essentiality for the debtor's economical fresh start today. Concluding it, if the possibility of some regeneration is seen by the bankrupt, the discharge should be permitted by the court even without considering other matters because the discharge is positioned when it is bankrupt's right. But in certain case the right cannot be unrestricted.
