What assets can you keep with a consumer proposal in New Brunswick

August 31, 2021

There are certain assets that you generally get to keep when you file a consumer proposal. This list of assets varies from province to province; the following is a list of assets that are exempt from seizure in the Province of New Brunswick:

“You will note that there is no exemption for any real estate (House / Land) or Registered Education Savings Plans”

  • Furniture and household goods up to a maximum value of $5,000;

  • Food, clothing, and fuel for the debtor and family;

  • Registered Retirement Savings Plans (“RRSPs”) except for contributions in the past 12 months;

  • Pension Plans (can be exempt, if it meets specific criteria);

  • Whole Life Insurance (can be exempt, if it meets specific criteria);

  • One motor vehicle per debtor up to a maximum value of $6,500, subject to the claims of a secured creditor, if the vehicle is required by the debtor to earn a living and no alternate means of transportation are available;

  • Health and medical aids;

  • Two horses and harnesses, two cows, ten sheep, two hogs, 20 fowl, and food for six months;

  • Tools of the trade, equipment, and books up to a value of $6,500;

  • Household pets;

  • Seed grain and potatoes required for planting in the following quantities: 40 bushels of oats, 10 bushels of barley, 10 bushels of buckwheat, 10 bushels of wheat and 35 barrels of potatoes.

Your consumer proposal is an offer to keep your assets and compensate your creditors for any equity or value of your non-exempt assets.

You will note that there is no exemption for any real estate (House / Land). If you own real estate worth more than the mortgages registered against it, the Trustee must collect this excess value. 

For example – if you could sell your home and after paying the real estate fees and other expenses to sell the property and pay the mortgage in full, and still have money from the sale; then you have equity. This equity is not protected from your creditors. The amount of this potential equity will be factored into the consumer proposal to your creditors.

 

There is also no exemption for Registered Education Savings Plans (“RESP”). 

If you are keeping an asset that has a loan against it, you need to continue making the loan payments to keep the asset.

If you have any non-exempt asset you don’t lose them and are not required to sell them, but the value of the non-exempt asset become a factor in the amount of the offer you make to your creditors.