bankruptcy advice please

you and your wife would have to go bankrupt seperately which would cost £900.
if you think you could afford to buy your council house why go bankrupt as it will seriously affect your credit rating for at least 6 years and even after that you would still need to declare that you have been bankrupt .
you would have your account frozen so would have to open another one am afraid.
why dont you post a list of outgoings and incomings and your debts to see if we can help you first. who is your dmp with.

the judge will declare you bankrupt if you are unable to pay your debts when they fall due. So if you are in a DMP but are struggling to make the repayments you shoudl emphasise this. In my experience judges almost always make the order when someone presents their own petition. Another definition of insolvency is the balance sheet definition, where you are insolvent if your debts exceed your assets.. well you are certainly insolvent by that definition!
Once you have been declared bankrupt the creditors cannot take furtehr recovery action ( section 285 Insolvency Act 1986 restriction on proceedings and remedies) so they cannot send baliffs . howver the OR issues his Report To Creditors (the notification that you are bankrupt) within 8 weeks of the bankruptcy order ( statutory deadline is 12 weeks but the Insolvency Service traget is 8 weeks). So if you have harrasing creditors or baliffs you need to provide them with copy of your bankruptcy order. Then they will know they cannot legally continue any action withot the courts permission. The whole point of bankruptcy is you are protected and one creditor cannot take assets for themselves to detriment of other creditors.
If you have no significant assets the OR would not take any action against you. Items such as furniture oven washing machine etc are all neccessary for your domestic needs so not assets in the bankruptcy.
If you acquire assets between the bankruptcy order and dicharge they CAN be claimed by the Trustee ( the OR or an Insolvency Practitioner) but assets avquired after discharge cannot be claimed. Discharge for a 1st time bankrupt is either automatic after 1 year or earlier if stragihtforward.
The position with the bank account depends on whether it is overdrawn or in credit on the date of bankruptcy. If it is overdrawn then it will be frozen and closed, so you shoudl make alternative arrangements for your wages. If the account is in credit, and the funds are neccessary for your day to day living expenses, the OR will send letter to bank stating that they will not claim the credit balance, and that the acocunt may remain open, BUT it is up to the bank not the OR's decision. So after bankruptcy go to your branch and establish what they say. I know Halifax do not allow the accounts to remain open. It depends on the bank head office policy.
If you could afford (just!) £750 under the DMP the OR will certainly be looking for an Income Payments Agreement from you, where you pay part of your montly disposable income to the OR. The OR will look at the income and outgoings as in the Statement Of Affairs and calculate the surplus, then expect you to pay between 50% and 70% of the surplus under the IPA for 3 years. A lot shorter than the 8 years tho! and you will be left with some of the surplus to keep and spend as you wish.
If you do go down bankruptcy route please take plenty of time to complete the Statement Of Affairs, eg put thought into your outgoings dont guess. Include all full addresses refs amutns, and put dates incurred in section 4 list of creditors. If the Statement of Affairs is incomplete your interview will take longer. If you underestimate your outgoings the oR will seek a larger payment from you, so take time to consider all the househol doutgoings. Things like cigarrets socialising are not considered essential accourding to the legislation so cannot be included. But obviously dont overestimate your outgoings as the OR may ask for supporting documentation bills receipts etc. . The number of cases where I have looked throgugh the Statement of Affairs and their outgoings matches their income perfectly down to the penny...this looks fishy like they just dont want to pay anything back. I am sure this wont be case with you!
On Bank section please list full bank address, sort code account number, and tick the box to indicate if your regular income is paid in, and enter the balance as of the date you are going to the court.
On Section 11 Causes of Bankruptcy explain why you cannot pay debts in as much detail as poss, including numbers and dates eg do not just write 'my overtimne was cut' but a fuller explanation like ' i have been employed as a salesman since 2000 and enjoyed regular bonuses and overtiome, in the year 2003/2004 the overtime and bonuses totalled £10,000 on top of my basic wage of £25,000. I used credit cards to supplement my income but could afford the reoayments from my overtime. In July 2004 all overtime was cut and my income was reduced by £750 per month and I could no longer afford the minimum repayments of £1000 a month'
If there are medical reasons, eg early retirment due to il health, it may be worth attaching a doctors letter.
I suggest you download the Guide To Bankruptcy from https://www.insolvency.gov.uk and maybe look at the Form 6.38 Statement Of Affairs, which you can also download. I think the Statement Of affairs can be completed online now.
Any more questions let me know.
by the way do you have a car? if you do it will be an asset in the bankruptcy regardless of value and you personal circumstances, unless you need it to travel to work (ie not possible to use public transport)...
Any more questions??

Thanks!! Here to help, I know people get very anxious and upset about bankruptcy. most people say to me that it is not as bad as they thought it would be.
Agree OP should go to CAB or CCCS. If he goes to CAB he should try to see a bankruptcy specialist. Sometimes the advice is not 100% eg if bankrupt has an old banger worth £200 they tell them that the oR will not take a car of such low value, in reality we have to, becuase the Official Receiver is personally liable for any injury or damages to 3d parties as a result of the vehicle. But dont want to put peple off the CAB. There is so much info on the website https://www.insolvency.gov.uk, i reckon all of the FAQs are answered on the site.....
Yes husbdand and wife (or partners) should go bankrupt together, they should attend court together and present cases together, then when OR gets the cases they will both be allocated to the same examiner ( the person like me who interviews them), having both cases dealt with by one examiner makes sense as it saves time as likely to be joint debts and related causes of insolvency.....

fatbelly wrote:

A2C, I'm impressed, as usual, with your answer. I went on a course about bankruptcy recently, and you've just taught me loads of things I didn't know. Thanks.

I think it would be worth the OP getting some help from CAB or similar, and taking your post with him, to get the strategy sorted out, e.g. should both partners go bankrupt at the same time?

see the leaflet 'what will happen to my home' which applies if home is solely or jointly owned:
http://www.insolvency.gov.uk/guidanceleaflets/home/home.htm
so is your home owned? or rented? if rented are there rent arrears and is landlord private or social (housing assoc or local authority) ? look through the tenancy agreement to see if there is a bankruptcy clause (often under forfeiture)

Yes i think it would be good idea for you to sell the house on the open market to a non associated person and move into rented. If you go bankrupt and the Trustee forces sale, the sale price will be much less than market value and the Trustee takes a large chuck of the proceeds for thir costs. If you do sell yourself you must get all of your share of proceeds and use it all to pay creditors. Do not repay friends or family in preference to financial institutions. Pay each creditor back a percentage of what they owe: eg dont repay one or two in full and nothing to others better to repay say 25% to all. Keep a record of how much was repaid, when and to whom, to you can account to the OR for disposal of sale proceeds.
People who have kept their home? are you sure it was in their sole or joint names? if they were not on proprietorship at land reg the OR may have accepted they do not have an interest. Alternatively if the house was in negatove equity the OR may have sold his interest for £1, the purchaser has to pay the valuation and legal costs. Otherwise maybe trustee is waitng for the property to acquire equoity and will claim his interst later. A 3 year time limit came in on 01/04/04 applies to all bankruptcy orders made before 01/04/04 where there is an interest in property. So someone made bankrupt 10 years ago may still be in the home but it has not reverted to them, the Trustee still has an interest if nothing has been done about the property.

Laurie30091 wrote:

have checked out the link and read the possibility of losing my home. I've known at least 2 others who have gone bankrupt and have kept their home so is there some criteria to follow or is it down to individuality?
I'm actually trying to sell at present to pay off creditors then I'll just rent; a good idea?