CFP Board Discloses Bankruptcies by CFP® Professionals

Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards, Inc. (“CFP Board”) announces today the names of twenty-four CFP® professionals who filed for bankruptcy during the period when CFP Board’s prior Bankruptcy Disclosure Procedure was effective, but who failed to disclose the bankruptcy to CFP Board. CFP Board discovered that these individuals had filed for bankruptcy when CFP Board conducted background checks on all CFP® professionals to detect potential misconduct that previously had not been reported to CFP Board.

Prior Bankruptcy Disclosure Procedures

CFP Board’s prior Bankruptcy Disclosure Procedures were in effect from July 2012 until June 30, 2020, and applied to CFP® professionals who filed for bankruptcy one time. Under these prior procedures, which were put in place to address an increased number of bankruptcies that were being filed by Americans, including CFP® professionals, as a result of the Great Recession, CFP Board did not investigate or adjudicate the single bankruptcy. Instead, CFP Board noted the bankruptcy filing on the CFP® professional’s public profile, which is available on the “Find a CFP® Professional” and “Verify an Individual’s CFP® Certification” search functions. CFP Board also issued news releases to identify those CFP® professionals who had filed bankruptcy.

CFP Board’s Revised Bankruptcy Standard and Procedures

CFP Board’s Code of Ethics and Standards of Conduct (Code and Standards) and Procedural Rules came into effect on June 30, 2020 and set forth a revised bankruptcy standard and procedures. The Code and Standards provides that a CFP® professional may not engage in conduct that reflects adversely on his or her integrity or fitness as a CFP® professional, upon the CFP® marks or upon the profession. This includes conduct that results in a personal bankruptcy or business bankruptcy filing or adjudication where the CFP® professional was a control person of the business, unless the CFP® professional can rebut the presumption that the bankruptcy demonstrates an inability to manage responsibly the CFP® professional’s or the business’s financial affairs. CFP Board is enforcing this bankruptcy standard through the processes set forth in the Procedural Rules, including by conducting investigations, filing and adjudicating Complaints, and issuing sanctions for violations of this standard. CFP Board publishes public sanctions in a press release and in the CFP® professional’s disciplinary history on Verify a CFP® Professional and Find a CFP® Professional.

CFP Board has issued a Notice Regarding Bankruptcy Standard and Procedures that details CFP Board’s reporting requirements, standards and procedures regarding bankruptcies. Particularly noteworthy is that CFP Board now uses a streamlined adjudication procedure to determine whether a single bankruptcy reflects adversely on a CFP® professional’s integrity or fitness, upon the CFP® marks or upon the profession. Under that procedure, a CFP® professional with a single bankruptcy may accept a public censure without incurring a hearing fee. Otherwise, CFP Board will issue a streamlined complaint, impose a hearing fee, and follow an expedited adjudication procedure. When a CFP® professional has multiple bankruptcies, CFP Board will continue to follow its normal procedure for adjudicating complaints.

The public may review an individual’s bankruptcy and disciplinary information and certification status with CFP Board at CFP.net/verify. More information regarding a CFP® professional’s bankruptcy filing can be found at the U.S. Court’s Public Access to Court Electronic Records (“PACER”) website. Please note that you will be required to register and pay a nominal fee to view the information.

The individuals who filed for bankruptcy during the pendency of the Bankruptcy Disclosure Procedure but who failed to disclose the bankruptcy to CFP Board are set forth below: