How to cancel a debt (legally)

Clear debts legally.
It might seem like a utopia, but it still remains one of the greatest needs of many Italian citizens.
In fact, completely canceling the debt is not always possible (although there are some exceptions), but there are various ways to get rid of the debt situation within one's possibilities.
The law recognizes debtors excessively burdened by obligations with various procedures to deal with them despite the economic difficulty, in compromise with the rights of creditors.
Here is an overview of the most useful solutions for canceling debts.
How to cancel debts Pay the debt Payment in installments with the Ader The consumer plan The agreement with the creditors The discharge The cancellation of the debt and suspension of the debt The renunciation of the inheritance The appeal of the injunction The statute of limitations Paying the debt Paying off debt is undoubtedly the most obvious solution to free yourself from obligations, but you should know that to do so it is possible to benefit from some facilitated procedures.
Those who need to cancel debts presumably do not have the possibility of liquidating them in a single solution (which is otherwise the quickest option for debts actually owed), which is why more practical solutions must be evaluated.
Payment in installments with Ader Among the options, we must mention the possibility of paying in installments due to the Revenue Collection Agency, reserved for those who are in a condition of "temporary objective difficulty".
The installment payment can be requested directly from the specific Ader web page and allows the amount to be divided into a maximum of 72 monthly instalments, which can be extended to 120 in the event of a "serious and proven situation of difficulty not attributable to the debtor, linked to the economic situation".
economic".
If there is a proven worsening of the economic conditions, it is possible to extend the installment payment for a maximum of a further 72 installments, provided that the forfeiture has not occurred.
The latter intervenes in the event of non-payment of a certain number of installments (even non-consecutive ones), which depends on the date of the request.
For installments granted after 1 January 2022, the forfeiture occurs if 5 installments are not paid (with a possible new extension for the balance of the outstanding amounts).
This procedure differs from the scrapping of the bills provided for in the 2023 budget law which, in addition to the possibility of paying in installments, allows you to pay only the principal amount.
The consumer plan There are also procedures for over-indebtedness, including the consumer plan, which allows an agreement to be concluded in court even without the consent of creditors.
To this end, it is necessary to present a possible recovery plan with the assistance of the Crisis Settlement Body (OCC), to which all the documentation on the economic and financial conditions, as well as the guarantees, must be attached.
For approval of the plan it is essential to be able to demonstrate the ability to pay the proposed installments, even for a total amount lower than the total debt.
The OCC will define the credit priorities, payment methods and deadlines.
The agreement with the creditors In agreement with the creditors, however, it is possible to define a settlement and write-off procedure or an extension.
Naturally – unless you enter into an over-indebtedness procedure – the agreement is more difficult to obtain, unless you can propose the payment of a good percentage of the debt in a short time.
read also Law on over-indebtedness, requirements and how to exploit it to your advantage Debt discharge The law provides for a debt discharge procedure, aimed at definitively canceling all residual debts towards public administrations and private individuals.
The procedure is identified by law no.
3/2012 which is aimed at non-fallible subjects, including consumers, (i.e.
private individuals).
Debt relief is aimed at debtors who have had access to an over-indebtedness procedure but still have residual debts that they are unable to deal with.
To access the procedure it is necessary to be in a condition of over-indebtedness, i.e.
a permanent imbalance between the debts and the economic benefits to deal with them.
Debt discharge is not accessible to those who: Have resorted to the same procedure for less than 5 years before the deadline for debt discharge expired; have already benefited from debt relief; they have an unsuitable financial situation (suitable for paying debts) or have not provided all the documentation to reconstruct it.
Furthermore, access to debt relief is permitted only if the debtor is deserving: there must be no acts of fraud on creditors (including omissions) nor serious negligence or willful misconduct in the indebtedness.
The request for debt relief must first pass through the Crisis Settlement Body, which prepares the report to be submitted to the judge.
The latter, in a hearing with the debtor and creditors, issues the debt discharge decree, provided that the debtor has demonstrated the impossibility of answering for present and future, direct and indirect obligations.
Cancellation of the debt and suspension of the tax bill Payment requests received from public bodies and the tax authorities and the related tax bills from the Revenue Collection Agency can be canceled with the self-protection request.
This debt cancellation procedure, also called "relief", is aimed exclusively at debts that are not owed, because they do not exist or have already been paid.
Self-defense cancellation can be requested directly from the creditor body, which is asked to correct the error made.
However, it is not possible to submit the request for relief directly to the Ader, but in some cases it is possible to request the suspension of the file to await verification by the alleged creditor.
The suspension must be requested within 60 days of notification of the notice, exclusively in these cases: Payment already made before the role was formed; relief order issued by the creditor; debt prescribed or lapsed before registration of the role; administrative suspension; total or partial cancellation of the debt in sentence.
However, it is not possible to request suspension for notices not notified by the Collection Agent (for example by the Revenue Agency or INPS) and payment reminders sent by the Collection Agent by ordinary mail.
The cancellation of the debt – total or partial – can also be requested upon request to the judge, according to the procedure indicated in the document to be challenged.
Aside from the possible appeals on both sides, if the organization does not comply after the annulment ruling, it is possible to propose a compliance judgment to ensure that it does comply.
Cancellation entails the obligation of total or partial reimbursement of any sums already paid but not due.
read also Debt restructuring for private individuals, how it works and what it is for Renouncing the inheritance To cancel the debts coming from the inheritance the best thing to do is to renounce it within 10 years from the opening of the succession (which are reduced to 3 months if the person entitled to the inheritance owns some of the deceased's assets).
By renouncing the inheritance you avoid any liability regarding the deceased's debts.
An alternative is acceptance with benefit of inventory, which allows the hereditary patrimony to be kept separate from the personal one, so that only the former can be attacked by hereditary creditors.
Once the pure and simple inheritance has been accepted, even tacitly, it is not possible to get rid of inheritance debts.
It is necessary, if possible, to access the same facilitated procedures aimed at debtors.
The challenge of the injunction order The injunction order orders a payment on the basis of proof of the debt provided by the creditor but, if it is considered incorrect, it can be challenged using a lawyer.
To effectively oppose the injunction it is necessary to show the problem: Payment has already occurred; non-existent debt; incorrect counts; errors in form.
The opposition must be presented within 40 days of notification of the injunction, taking care to act with well-founded assumptions.
The judge who suspects the unfoundedness of the opposition can in fact order the provisional execution of the decree and the debtor risks, by losing the opposition, also being condemned to pay the legal and procedural costs.
The statute of limitations All debts relating to credits that have fallen into statute of limitations are to be considered already cancelled, since the period of time required by law has passed without interruptive actions by the creditor or recognition of the debt by the debtor himself.
To the request for payment it is sufficient to file an objection due to the statute of limitations.
read also Debt prescription 2023: how long after is it possible not to pay?