Ask a StepChange (formerly CCCS) counsellor a bankruptcy question

StepChange_James · 11 February 2013 at 4:54PM

c00k1e316 wrote: »

My friend just spoke to a StepChange counsellor about my debts.

They recommend bankruptcy for him and that his wife's property which is owned by her and mortgage solely in her name would not be affected by my going bankrupt.

I thought that as they are married that her assets would also be affected?

Can you shed any light?

Thanks

Hello,

I've got a little bit confused with who's going bankrupt but I'll answer in general terms to keep it simple.

If a husband goes bankrupt then the courts will not be interested in assets they see as purely being in the wife's name. They will obviously look into the husband's assets though, including any properties they think he's got an interest in.

The Official Receiver (the person appointed to look into this sort of stuff) will look to see if they think the husband has any "beneficial interest" in the property he lives in. Even if he isn't named on the property, if he's contributed to the buying of the house the courts will look into this.

I can only assume that the advisor who said the house was unlikely to be affected will have looked at the circumstances and been confident that the Official Receiver would not see any issues with beneficial interest.

Your friend/you could always give us a call on the number in their/your advice booklet if you'd like to be sure though.

Kind regards

James

catandy · 12 February 2013 at 11:08AM

question for you regarding my partners bankruptcy

he went bankrupt in dec 2009 and was under scrutiny from the Official Receiver for 20 odd months finally getting a letter saying that they were not taking any action (were pursuing a BRO) and he was dismissed from the bankruptcy at that time.

he has not applied for a letter of discharge from the court, I phoned the court for him to be told that the case has been passed to the OR to give approval on issuing the discharge certificate and this can take some time (6 weeks or more sometimes).

simple question really, partners situation has changed, he has a company that is trading and has a small income. Can the OR now impose an IPO or restart the bankruptcy or even start the BRO that he was trying to get in place? sorry I thought we were clear of this and all the implications 2011 which ran into mid 2012 and i really dont want the shadow of this hanging over him any more. he went bankrupt to give him a fresh start - its ramifications are still being felt over 2 years later!

StepChange_James · 12 February 2013 at 1:40PM

catandy wrote: »

question for you regarding my partners bankruptcy

he went bankrupt in dec 2009 and was under scrutiny from the Official Receiver for 20 odd months finally getting a letter saying that they were not taking any action (were pursuing a BRO) and he was dismissed from the bankruptcy at that time.

he has not applied for a letter of discharge from the court, I phoned the court for him to be told that the case has been passed to the OR to give approval on issuing the discharge certificate and this can take some time (6 weeks or more sometimes).

simple question really, partners situation has changed, he has a company that is trading and has a small income. Can the OR now impose an IPO or restart the bankruptcy or even start the BRO that he was trying to get in place? sorry I thought we were clear of this and all the implications 2011 which ran into mid 2012 and i really dont want the shadow of this hanging over him any more. he went bankrupt to give him a fresh start - its ramifications are still being felt over 2 years later!

Hello,

There's some more information one what happens after bankruptcy on our website: http://www.stepchange.org/Debtinformationandadvice/Debtsolutions/Bankruptcy/Afterbankruptcy.aspx.

If your partner has been discharged then he doesn't need to inform the courts of any changes to his finances and there is no reason why he should have do start an income payment arrangement / order (IPA/IPO). I would have thought his discharge date would be the date he was "dismissed" from the bankruptcy that you mentioned.

You can read more about being discharged from bankruptcy here: http://www.bis.gov.uk/insolvency/personal-insolvency/discharge.

If you wanted to be sure of all this though, it may be worth contacting the OR to be certain he's been discharged. Bankruptcies are usually automatically discharged after 12 months (or sometimes discharged earlier than that). I'd guess that the OR applied for a suspension of discharge while they were looking at a Bankruptcy Restrictions Order (BRO) which is why your partner wasn't automatically discharged.

Hope this helps.

James

catandy · 12 February 2013 at 2:54PM

thanks james

yes partner had a suspension of his discharge which was subsequently dismissed along with his bankruptcy itself - so with that in mind I take it the OR could not start an IPO or anything else to do with the bankruptcy itself now and basically once partner has his certificate of discharge he can start rebuilding his life post bankruptcy? I really look forward to that day so we can actually move on and put this behind us at last!

thank you in advance

crunchie153 · 12 February 2013 at 6:44PM

Hi,

My husband has unsecured debts of around £50,000 including a shortfall from when a house he had in his own name was repossessed last year. He is currently a stay at home dad and I am working albeit in a low wage. He has been advised to go BR and I just want to know would it be wise for us to separate our Joint Account now take him off and make sure all our utilities are in my name. Also if we do this will my income be taken into account when all debts are in his sole name my annual income is £14,000 and we have 2 young children and Rent our home. We just want a fresh start and are sick of having to negogiate token payments every 6 months.

StepChange_James · 13 February 2013 at 1:12PM

catandy wrote: »

thanks james

yes partner had a suspension of his discharge which was subsequently dismissed along with his bankruptcy itself - so with that in mind I take it the OR could not start an IPO or anything else to do with the bankruptcy itself now and basically once partner has his certificate of discharge he can start rebuilding his life post bankruptcy? I really look forward to that day so we can actually move on and put this behind us at last!

thank you in advance

Hello,

The most important thing is that your partner is discharged. While I can't be sure, it sounds like this has already happened, so he can already move on from the bankruptcy.

The certificate of discharge is a document that confirms his discharge but it sounds like the discharge from bankruptcy has already taken place a while back.

Providing your partner gave accurate information to his OR during the bankruptcy then there would be no reason for them to look to set up a BRO or and IPA/IPO following discharge.

Hope this helps.

James

StepChange_James · 13 February 2013 at 1:20PM

crunchie153 wrote: »

Hi,

My husband has unsecured debts of around £50,000 including a shortfall from when a house he had in his own name was repossessed last year. He is currently a stay at home dad and I am working albeit in a low wage. He has been advised to go BR and I just want to know would it be wise for us to separate our Joint Account now take him off and make sure all our utilities are in my name. Also if we do this will my income be taken into account when all debts are in his sole name my annual income is £14,000 and we have 2 young children and Rent our home. We just want a fresh start and are sick of having to negogiate token payments every 6 months.

Hello and welcome to the forum.

If your husband goes bankrupt he will be asked to produce an income and expenditure budget for his finances. There's no requirement for your income to be included.

Even if it was, the courts expect people to pay for all their living costs before thinking about money being paid towards debts, so it sounds like there'd be very little left over.

Hope this helps.

James

misscharlotte · 14 February 2013 at 11:21AM

I am in the process of being granted a debt relief order. The paperwork has been sent in to the receiver and I am now waiting to hear back. My landlord has written to me, offering me a deal where I pay him back £25 per week with a space to sign the letter at the bottom. It says that if he doesn't hear from me within 10 days, then he will be taking legal action.
I am moving out of the property on Saturday but want to notify him that I will not be paying him as I am not in a situation to be able to, hence why I am moving out.
I want to write him a letter but don't know what I should put in/leave out

Any help would be massively appreciated

StepChange_James · 14 February 2013 at 12:29PM

misscharlotte wrote: »

I am in the process of being granted a debt relief order. The paperwork has been sent in to the receiver and I am now waiting to hear back. My landlord has written to me, offering me a deal where I pay him back £25 per week with a space to sign the letter at the bottom. It says that if he doesn't hear from me within 10 days, then he will be taking legal action.
I am moving out of the property on Saturday but want to notify him that I will not be paying him as I am not in a situation to be able to, hence why I am moving out.
I want to write him a letter but don't know what I should put in/leave out

Any help would be massively appreciated

Hi misscharlotte,

Thanks for posting.

As you'll be moving out of the property before the 10 days you've been given to reply I don't think there'll be too much to be worried about.

I think a letter explaining the situation sound like a good idea. Not that you have to do this, but I can imagine it'll be better received by your landlord than being told about the DRO by the insolvency service.

If you know you're not going to be staying in the property then there's no problem with informing your landlord of the DRO. It's up to you how much detail you want to go into really - but I can't think of anything you need to specifically avoid saying.

Hope this helps.

James

TheGardener · 17 February 2013 at 10:16AM

I have recently completed the StepChange online remedy tool and the recoomendation was bankrupcy. It was a bit of a shock but having spoken to an advisor over the phone I now I am reading up on it and getting my head round it. It have a question: If my bank accounts are frozen - how do I get paid and will my DD's for gas/phone/rent etc still be paid? The debt I have is not with the bank I have my everyday banking account with (but not sure if they are linked - my loan (debt) account is with Lloyds TSB but salary and DD's at Halifax) I should say that my basic bills rent/Gas/phone/counicl tax etc are not in arrears (yet)- my debts relate to loans I can no longer affford to pay after everyday essentials.
thanks

Ask a StepChange (formerly CCCS) counsellor a bankruptcy question

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