Br 6/11/08 Advice From Here On Please.

tigerfeet2006

You were asking about contributions to the SOA from either party. Some people if they are going BR together just put their household money down ie his wages, her wages, any other monies. Then do a joint SOA. Make sure you tell the court clerk and the OR you have done this and that it needs to be looked at together. That should make life a lot easier.

strimmerman

So it may then be worth contacting the OR and asking to have a joint appt then.

The senario is that my other half had/has a small gardening business, his credit rating was not good way back so I had the business account in my name along with most other credit we had. I at the time was employed by him and paid under the tax threashold for the work I did. So the business account debt which I think accounts for about £800 debt was reaaly to do with him and the landscaping.....also some of the credit card debt would have been linked to the landscaping that is probably about 15K of the debt.......all of this is in my name not his.

He has continued to run the same business.....it is all quite straighforward no materials etc just him getting paid to do whatever job he is doing at the time for labour only.

The only debts we ran up after this which was 2003/4 has been on utility bills and council tax.

I am currently self employed in MR and have very intermittant work and again I do a job and get paid for labour provided, travel and food, for which I have to provide reciepts to the company I work for.....obviously I have certain things to off set against that like use of my phone and running of PC inc broadband etc.

Basically we are all very simple and straightforward in terms of that sole traders and very simple business dealings.

At the time most of the debt was accrued we were a bit more complex in that we had a few staff but in all honestly by the time we were in the red up to our necks there were no staff. I would have to dig into the bowels of the loft to locate the paperwork......I would rather tell them that we had a burst pipe and it was all ruined than have to revisit any of that.

Back to what I was saying is really that the debts accured in my name have a relationship to the business that he was declaring IR accounts for.

As to my Dad......yes he does have both a state and private pension.....but how will they know anything about my Dad's income unless I tell them....do they have the power to check up on those I say live in the house? I mean the rest are my kids. Which begs another question. My oldest is classed at being at college full time and we retain CB and WFTC for him.....but he has a part time job....he earns about £270 a month....does that mean they would expect any contribution from him and again how would they know what he does unless I tell them.

In relation to completeing a SOA together is there a disadvantge to that in relation to repayments (sorry can't remember the shorthand). What I mean here is could doing them independantly mean that only one of us might be deemed having enough spare income to make payments but if we do a joint one that this order would then apply to both of us if we are deemed to have surplass income?

strimmerman

Thanks for all your replies.

Haven't phoned the OR yet today as was hoping someone might reply to my post last night. JUst thought I would nudge the post and hope someone notices it so I might be able to ring them before they shut at 4pm

Really what I am trying to check is if we call and ask them for a joint meeting as suggested was possible - I have said before there was an interwinement between my OH small gardening business and the biz account and all other debts actually being in my name (most of it anyway).

If we do ask for and are granted a joint meeting will it mean that we automatically have to complete a joint SOA? That would in theory be the most simple option anyway as it is a fiddly job trying to allocate this to him and that to me for completion of SOA. However I then wondered what this means in terms of IPO's. If we did the SOA individually and for example I had no surplus and he had enough to be given an IPO and nothing changed during the period of the BR I would then never have to pay and he would still be subject to the IPO for as long as circumstances were applicable. However if we complete an SOA together would that then mean that in the same financial workings out that we would both then have an IPO for as long as circumstances dictated we had to pay. I am pretty certain that when I work it all out neither of us will have a surplus of £100 so don't think it will be relevant at this point, but don't want to find I shoot myself in the foot if financial circumstances change over the BR period and then we both become the subject of a IPO if only one of us needs to be.

What would happen if our SOA then appears to leave us in deficit each month? Luckily with self employment it is possible to be a bit creative with the figures and make it look a bit rosier.....will they look badly upon a deficit?

Also I am now worrying that they will breath fire on us for only having attempted to pay the council tax in the past. We have not made payments to anyone except the Water Board, Electric and Council Tax since moving into this property which was 4 years ago. So no C Cards or loans or anything else that was run up whilst living in previous property or indeed the rent arrears for that house.....will they class this as wrong doing? In the sense that firstly we had paid some people ahead of others (Albeit they were vital services needed to run our home and the council tax only really because they were like a dog with a bone and some of those payments were made as directed by the judge at the second BR hearing.....and secondly we just didn't even attempt to do anything about the other debts. It just all seemed so hopeless...we had nothing/virtually nothing to offer and having moved managed to avoid people until we appeared on the electoral role and have since then just buried heads in sand

I was feeling more relaxed but now find I am stressing over this impending meeting. I have convinced myself that they will look really badly on us ignoring/avoiding our debts and they will....well I don't tknow what they will do....possible BRO......what else can they do to us. I don't see a BRO as the end of the world but I have visions of some other terrible punishment.

Thanks in anticipation of your great replies and knowlegde.

Dunpayin

Hi Strimmerwoman

I'm a sole trader landscaper who's just gone BR, so here's a few things that I've found that may help...

First off, the OR was almost totally uninterested in my business! Didn't ask for a breakdown of expenses, details of purchases/accounts, business account bank statements. All she wanted was my end of year I&E, which comes with the tax return. I'd lost one of them so she just asked for an estimate. They didn't seem interested in any finer details.

I put my income as low as I could, and my advertising budget as high as poss. In 6 months when they look at my business I&E, I'm sure it will not look like I earn too much. I also claimed £50 per month for 'Bad Debts' ie unpaid invoices/jobs running over. If you can avoid an IPA for the first 12 months, then you're in the clear, they can't issue one after that time. The way I see it is to put your business overheads in as high as you can. If, in a years time, it turns out you spent less on advertising, or that you incurred no bad debts etc, then it's all good, because you're out of IPA-land.

I've changed my work van insurance from 3rd party to fully comp, in case something happens to it. No credit cards to fall back on now!

g) Outstanding Invoice. I had one of these, but technically hadn't completely finished the job, therefore did not class it as monies owing yet. I would recommend trying to avoid declaring it, if you can.

Hope some of that helps

D*

JCS1

technically, as two seperate BR then should be two interviews.

You can ask, you never know they might agree, but expect them to say no.