Newbie in need of help

sweetmemories

Hi all,

At the moment I'm a soletrader, but with the downturn in the retail market things are becoming very tight, though its more my personel debts which are draging me down not the business ones.

My question is, I own a house with my ex-partner which I pay half, we have a mortgage of £139 thousand, with the house being worth about £250 thousand, though her mother put in some money when we brought the house and a Deed of Trust was drawn up stating that she owned 60% of the house and me and my wife owned 20% each, if i took the bankrupt route would the OR look at this and say that the equity belongs to me and my wife, or that the equity belongs to the mother-in-law?


Also if I sold my business to my parents for £1, and they took over the business and its debts, how would this be viewed by the OR? Would he think that I was pulling a fast one, even though there would be no debts from the business involed in going bankrupt.

poorandindenial

Hi sweetmemories

From the sounds of your post you seem to be jumping straight to bankruptcy, have you considered any other options??? Are you sure that you are eligibe for BR?? (that isn't to sound critical but I know what it is like when you can't see a way out and I had thought that I would have to go BR some years ago but back then I didn't know that there were other options)

Try contacting one of the free to use debt advice agencies:

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/loans/debt-help-plan#help

to see what option might best suit you.

I do think that the OR would think you were pulling a fast one if you were divesting assets to others (be they company or other) just before you make an application for bankruptcy.

We can also help, if you put together a statement of affairs (SOA) we migth be able to help you see whays to make your money go further each month which may allow you to continue to repay your debts. A SOA will alos help you for when/if you speak to one of the agencies in the link I posted above.

There is a SOA calculator at www.makesenseofcards.com

The CCCS website (via my link above to debt agencies) has a tool called debtremedy which will give you an idea of the options that might be available to you if you pop all of your details into there.

All the best getting this sorted out

sweetmemories

Thank You

I am in the process of doing an SOA, So I'm looking at all the options, though my parents are keen too take the business over, the problem I have is that I've got to choose to pay my cc and loans or buy stock for the shop to keep it going.
I've got to try and work out my income as I've only been trading for 8 months so not had a full year yet, though I've just got a part-time job in the morning and have given up my rented flat to try and save as much as I can,

sweetmemories

Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 800
Partners monthly income after tax....... 0
Benefits................................ 0
Other income............................ 400
Total monthly income.................... 1200

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 500
Secured loan repayments................. 0
Rent.................................... 200
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 0
Electricity............................. 0
Gas..................................... 0
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 0
Telephone (land line)................... 0
Mobile phone............................ 30
TV Licence.............................. 0
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 0
Internet Services....................... 0
Groceries etc. ......................... 25
Clothing................................ 10
Petrol/diesel........................... 0
Road tax................................ 0
Car Insurance........................... 0
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 0
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 20
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 0
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 0
Contents insurance...................... 0
Life assurance ......................... 50
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 10
Haircuts................................ 0
Entertainment........................... 0
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Total monthly expenses.................. 845

Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 250000
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 0
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 250000

Secured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 139000...(500)......0
Total secured debts........... 139000....-.........-

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Overdraft......................2500......0.........0
Mastercard.....................1148......33........0
Egg loan.......................13432.....257.......0
Virgin cc......................6400......135.......0
Egg cc.........................6170......125.......0
Total unsecured debts..........29650.....550.......-

Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 1,200
Expenses (including secured debts)....... 845
Available for debt repayments........... 355
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 550
Surplus(deficit if negative)............ -195

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 250,000
Total Secured debt...................... -139,000
Total Unsecured debt.................... -29,650
Net Assets.............................. 81,350


Not sure if this looks right, because I'm moving back to my parents
I've not got any household bills. Also it has come up with net assets
of 81,350, though this belongs to the mother-in-law because of the
deed of trust? should I redo it?