July 11, 2012
The Office of the Superintendent of Bankruptcy (OSB) would like to remind trustees that assignments of creditors' claims should be actioned upon receipt of proper documentation.
A creditor may validly assign his or her right to a dividend. Following the assignment, the assignor no longer has any right to dividends; instead, the assignee is now entitled to dividends. Therefore, trustees have a duty to update their databases and ensure that dividends are remitted to the right party upon proper validation of debt assignment. Trustees, however, must have proof that the assignee has the legal right to collect the debt. Thus, the assignor or the assignee must provide the trustee with proper documentation, such as a notice of assignment of debt and a copy of the debt assignment or pertinent extract of the deed of assignment (or any other evidence of the assignment). Once reasonable proof of an assignment of debt has been received, trustees must update their records in a timely manner to ensure that all future correspondence, notices and payment of dividends regarding claims will be directed to the assignee.
For any questions pertaining to this notice, please contact your local OSB office.