Bankruptcy in Illuminatia
Personal bankruptcy is not possible within Illuminatia's financial or legal systems, and is not a situation which is allowed to take place within Illuminatia's system of social support and welfare. Corporate bankruptcy is generally avoided through a system of automatic asset ownership transfer.
While a person cannot go bankrupt, an individual's Monetary Network account is however allowed to reflect a negative balance in the event one's liabilities exceed liquid monetary assets for a period of time. Negative bank account balances are permitted to be carried forward for an individual's account indefinitely as needed to provide for basic personal needs such as sustenance, health and wellness, shelter, education, transportation, and communication.
A financial institution carrying the negative balance of a depositor may request temporary reimbursement from the Illuminatian Central Bank, however it is often strategically advantageous for a bank to forego doing so, as negative balances carried on behalf of a depositor will reduce the bank's Monetary Unit capital liability, reducing the funds subject to the Central Bank's negative interest rate.
Individuals with negative Monetary Network balances are first in line to be considered as beneficiaries of community disbursements of excess assets held by recently deceased persons. As a part of Illuminatian government's policy prohibiting inheritance, excess assets owned by a person upon their Termination of Life event are distributed to people in their community in the greatest need of monetary assets, and persons with negative Monetary Unit balances who are within the deceased's community are among the first to be considered for receipt of a portion of these excess assets.
Negative balances are allowed for corporate and institutional depositors as well, thereby reducing the incidence of corporate bankruptcy to essentially non-existent levels in Illuminatia's financial system. Banks—in the case of negative balances for corporate and institutional depositors—are allowed to claim partial to full ownership of non-liquid assets owned by the entity holding a negative Monetary Network balance. The ownership interest in the assets is legally automatic once the motion to take ownership is filed with the Department of Monetary Policy (DMP) by the financial institution holding the account. The bank holding an institution's Monetary Network account is the only creditor of any sort that is recognized under Illuminatian law. It is possible for a bank to allow an institution's balance to reach such a negative integer that the bank can take a majority or full ownership of a corporation's assets. It is not unheard-of for a bank to take full ownership of an entity's assets while allowing the entity to continue operating its business. This situation can also be beneficial for a bank's balance books.