Comparative Analysis of the Personal Bankruptcy Model and Their Effects in the Legal Orders in Slovenia and Croatia

Personal bankruptcy is a procedure in which a natural person who is over-indebted or insolvent is helped by paying off the debts with his or her own assets. It is an institution that is changing and is increasingly being used by people in situations of over-indebtedness. In practice, it has become popular because debtors seek to obtain a discharge of their liabilities by concealing their assets, thereby failing to achieve the essential objective of personal insolvency - the equal and simultaneous repayment of creditors. The following analysis focuses on the differences and similarities between the Slovenian and the Croatian legal systems in the area of personal bankruptcy and the legal solutions offered by both legal systems. Particular attention is paid to a comparative legal analysis of statistical data showing the importance of personal bankruptcy over selected years. The analysis also addresses a peculiarity of the Croatian legal system - "simple" consumer bankruptcy, which is not known in the Slovenian legal order, and critically assesses the obstacles and dilemmas that arise in practice.