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NINA/LILA debtors under the Portuguese Insolvency Act: A hidden problem in plain sight?
Author(s) -
Frade Catarina,
Jesus Rúben
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
international insolvency review
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.125
H-Index - 7
eISSN - 1099-1107
pISSN - 1180-0518
DOI - 10.1002/iir.1360
Subject(s) - insolvency , context (archaeology) , business , portuguese , law , finance , political science , geography , linguistics , philosophy , archaeology
Abstract No income, no assets (NINA) and low income, low assets (LILA) debtors are a non‐negligible part of the increasingly ‘financialized’ market economy. Falling outside the financial market or accessing it through low quality financial products, NINA/LILA debtors appear to be under prioritized by both legal and judicial regimes and public policies. Focusing on the legal and judicial dimension, and taking as an illustration the Portuguese context, we discuss how preinsolvency and insolvency solutions still remain ill‐adjusted for such cases. In spite the existence of some legal provisions aiming at fostering access to law and courts regardless individuals' financial conditions, they do not perform very well with insolvent debtors lacking a regular income. Addicionally, there are non‐legal barriers that prevent those with less economic means to fight properly for their social and economic rights.