Financial Statement Form 13 Alberta: Compelling Debtor Disclosure

What the Financial Statement Demands Are

Before you can garnish wages, freeze bank accounts or instruct a bailiff, you need to know what the debtor owns and earns. Alberta's enforcement system gives creditors a statutory right to demand this information in writing through formal Financial Statement forms.

Form 13 — Financial Statement of Individual Debtor. Used when the judgment debtor is a person. The debtor must disclose, under oath, their employment, income, bank accounts, real property, vehicles, investments and outstanding debts.

Form 14 — Financial Statement of Corporate Debtor. Used when the judgment debtor is a corporation. A corporate officer must disclose the company's bank accounts, accounts receivable, inventory, real property, equipment and financial obligations.

Both forms are prescribed under Section 35.10 of the Civil Enforcement Regulation. You can serve one as soon as you have a registered Writ of Enforcement at the Personal Property Registry.

How to Serve the Demand

The creditor serves the appropriate form on the debtor (or on a corporate officer for a company) along with a cover letter referencing the statutory obligation to complete and return it. Service follows the rules set out in the Alberta Rules of Court — personal service is the most reliable method, though alternatives may be available depending on the circumstances.

The debtor has 15 days from the date of service to complete the form under oath and return it to you.

What Form 13 Requires From an Individual

Form 13 asks for detailed financial information, including:

• Employment details: employer name and address, position, gross and net monthly income
• Bank accounts: every financial institution where the debtor holds an account, with account numbers
• Real property: addresses, legal descriptions and mortgage balances for any land or buildings owned
• Vehicles: make, model, year and outstanding loan balances
• Other assets: investments, RRSPs, TFSAs, business interests, money owed to the debtor by third parties
• Monthly expenses and debts: rent or mortgage payments, other judgment debts, support obligations

The form must be completed under oath — the debtor signs a statutory declaration or has it commissioned.

What Form 14 Requires From a Corporation

Form 14 asks a corporate officer to disclose:

• Corporate bank accounts: institution, branch, account numbers and approximate balances
• Accounts receivable: who owes money to the corporation and how much
• Inventory and equipment: description, location and approximate value
• Real property: addresses and mortgage information
• Corporate debts and obligations: loans, lines of credit, other judgments

The officer completes and signs the form under oath.

What Happens If the Debtor Ignores It

A debtor who fails to return a completed Form 13 or Form 14 within the 15-day window is in breach of a statutory duty. This gives you grounds for two follow-up actions:

Contempt application. Under Rule 10.52 of the Alberta Rules of Court and Section 35.17 of the Civil Enforcement Regulation, you can apply to the Court of King's Bench for a finding of civil contempt. Contempt can result in fines, costs orders or, in extreme cases, imprisonment.

Examination in Aid of Enforcement. If the written demand fails, you can escalate to an oral examination under oath. This is a more aggressive tool — the debtor must appear in person before a court reporter and answer questions directly, with documents in hand.

In practice, the contempt threat motivates most debtors to comply. The ones who don't are either genuinely judgment-proof (and have nothing to disclose) or are actively hiding assets — both of which the examination process is designed to address.

How This Information Feeds Your Enforcement Strategy

The Financial Statement isn't paperwork for its own sake. Every piece of information maps to an enforcement tool:

The last row is just as important. If the Form 13 reveals a debtor earning below the wage exemption floor, renting, driving a car worth less than $5,000 and holding no investments, they may be functionally judgment-proof. Knowing that before you spend money on a bailiff retainer saves you $950 or more.

Practical Tips

Serve early. The sooner you demand financial disclosure, the sooner you can act. Debtors who know enforcement is coming sometimes move assets — the statutory 15-day window is tight enough to limit this, but only if you start promptly.

Compare against public records. Cross-reference the debtor's disclosure against a PPR search (for registered vehicles and security interests), a Land Titles search (for real property) and a Corporate Registry search (for business interests). Discrepancies between the Form 13 and public records can indicate incomplete disclosure.

Keep the completed form. It is evidence. If the debtor later claims assets were sold or transferred before enforcement, the sworn disclosure establishes what they owned and when.

The Alberta Judgment Enforcement Guide includes the full financial disclosure workflow — from serving the demand through to using the disclosed information for targeted garnishment and seizure decisions.

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