Being made BK v doing it yourself

rog2

Hi Zobex - my bankruptcy was 'creditor petitioned', albeit by HMRC. I tend to agree with the others who say that, certainly at the moment, the threat of 'bankruptcy' from CRAPQUEST is, in fact, just that. Unless they are sure that you have assetts sufficient to cover their costs and for them to see a 'return' out of you, then they are most unlikely to carry out that threat.
This is even less likely given that you have other major creditors, as CQ would have to pay the Court costs (£590.00) plus associated solicitors' fees, with absolutely no guarantee of seeing any of this money back. Assuming they were succesful, in petitioning for your bankruptcy then they would have to take their place in the queue with all of your other creditors, and any assetts siezed by the OR would be, after deduction of OR/Trustee costs, divided equally among all of your creditors, with CQ seeing no more than anyone else.
So I wouldn't hold your breath waiting for CQ to petition for your bankruptcy, Zob - to them you are a 'business investment' pure and simple - if they can not make a reasonable return out of you then they will, eventually, simply cast you aside and concentrate on other potentially more lucrative targets.

Is there a difference in the way that 'debtor petioned' bankrupts are dealt with, as opposed to 'creditor petitioned' bankrupts?
This is, by its very nature, a difficult question to answer - 'Bankruptcy' is, if you like, the 'Final Solution' - it is used when all else fails, so there is unlikely to ever be a 'standard scenario' in bankruptcy.
My view is that there will almost certainly, but not inevitably, be some differences:

• a 'creditor petitioned' bankrupt is almost certainly going to need to attend a face to face OR interview, rather than a telephone interview, The face to face interview can, as it did in my case, last for several hours, and will, often, go into great depth into your finacial affairs.
• If the OR decides that a Trustee needs to be appointed, your major creditor will, in most cases, be given the opportunity to appoint the 'trustee'. Whilst a 'trustee' must, legally, act fairly and in the interest of all creditors, I still feel that this could allow an unfair element of control to that major creditor.

In saying the above, I must, in all fairness, add that you will, generally, receive the same, or similar, treatment, from the authorities, whether you are a 'debtor petitioned' or a 'creditor petitioned' bankrupt:

• You will be no more or less likely to receive either an IPA/IPO or a BRO/BRU.
• It is unlikely to impact on your eligibility for early discharge - I was discharged after six months.

I have to say that I am not aware, as deedee says, that a creditor can only petition for your bankruptcy at the Royal Courts of Justice. That is, indeed, where my bankruptcy was petitioned, although I was told that this was on HMRC's insistence, as 'they' will only use the High Courts.

At the end of the day, zob - it's up to you. Personally, I think that you do have more control over things if you can petition for your own bankruptcy, rather than wait for a creditor to do so. If it is just the finances, there are companies who will help with this, and, if you are on certain benefits, the court fees can be 'waived'.

Good luck in whatever you decide.

deedee_3

Sorry if I got that wrong Rog, it was something that CCCS told me and I never questioned it.

rog2

deedee wrote: »

Sorry if I got that wrong Rog, it was something that CCCS told me and I never questioned it.

You might be quite correct, deedee - I hadn't heard of it - that's all.

deedee_3

Hmm! might have to try and clarify that then. How would I go about doing that?

Richard_S

deedee wrote: »

Hmm! might have to try and clarify that then. How would I go about doing that?

Hi deedee,

We were petitioned for bankruptcy by a creditor, and the hearing was at our local County Court.

As Rog says it's only HMRC that use the High Courts.

Richard

fermi

As Richard has just demonstrated, normally creditors can and do use the county courts.

Since HMRC are one of the few creditors who will regularly petition for your bankruptcy and who ONLY use the High Court, I think the CCCS advisor must have heard something along those lines and misunderstood.

Richard_S

Just thinking about it. :think: :think:

If a creditor issues a County Court Summons the debtor has the right for the case to be heard in their local County Court, and can apply for it to be moved if it's scheduled somewhere else.

That may well be true of a Bankruptcy Petition, but I don't know.

Richard

rog2

Richard_S wrote: »

That may well be true of a Bankruptcy Petition, but I don't know.

I was, certainly, advised by CAB that that would, indeed, be the case - in fact that is when I was told that HMRC would only use the High Court and would definitely not move the hearing, whereas, had it been any other creditor, I could have applied to have it heard in my local CC.