The new poor person's bankruptcy: Comparative perspectives

A significant policy issue in personal insolvency concerns the debtor with little income and few assets who may be unable to afford bankruptcy in those jurisdictions which require payment to access the individual bankruptcy system. The challenge of addressing the situation of these debtors is one experienced both by long standing personal insolvency systems and newer system in emerging markets. This article introduces a special issue of the International Insolvency Review which considers the responses of several common law, civil law and mixed regimes to this policy topic. The article discusses the background to the English Debt Relief Order enacted in 2009 as a procedure for low-income debtors, outlines salient issues raised by its implementation and discusses research themes related to the existence of the “No-Income-No Asset” debtor, including the structure and financing of the bankruptcy system, the contribution of NINA procedures to access to justice, the role of intermediaries in the bankruptcy system and the political economy of bankruptcy reform.