day in court

paul10mm

Hi everyone!
Can anyone tell me what happens when you go to court??we are just about ready money wise to go bankrupt just got to get the forms finished!! god what a lot you have to photocopy!!
Anyway our court date is first week in feb so my question is this what do i do with money in or bank account? we both get paid towards end of month me on the 24th wife on 31st our rent £850 does not go out till 7th of the month should i pay it early as soon as im paid or will i get in trouble for doing that?
And what happens on the day? we will both lose a days pay when we go another expense we can ill afford so does it take more than one trip to court house?
I understand once we are declared bankrupt they freeze our account and take our debit cards?How soon after can we open new one? co op account seems the only one worth having as you get an electron card?any better suggestions???
And finally my wife is worried sick that her company will sack her can they do that???
Mine already know due to Mbna but thats another story is itself!!
Thanks again for all the help and advice

jellycat40

Oh Paul please don't worry it will be ok this is just money we are talking about here.

First court is scary but you probably won't have to appear. You have to be there in case the judge wants to ask you questions but you go and give your payments to the court cashier and the usher will tell you what time your case is roughly. A few hours either way!!! Then you go away until you are called probably just to pick up you bankruptcy notice. This will give you a magic number that you quote to all those who wish to hassle you. MBNA call you then you just give them your BR number and they go away.

Your wife can't be sacked for being bankrupt unless she handles money and even then I don't think it would be that straight forward. She can't be a director of a company but I can't think of any other job that would be affected.

I don't think that anyone is going to worry when your rent is paid!

Someone should have advised you to take out a bank account before now. You need to have another bank account ready as far in advance as possible so that you can get your money paid into it. You just leave it empty and don't tell the court you have it. If you can't do anything else open a savings account with the woolwich and have money paid into there, they will give you a cash card. You won't get any account that has to be credit checked so no switch card, cheque book or overdraft facility but you do get used to electron honestly.

Good Luck to you and your wife

Louise

paul10mm

Thanks for your comments and help its a bit difficult for us my wife works for a debt company!!so its very difficult for us shes in the IT department she knows how these people work! They will try and sack her, she sometimes has to help out and handle cheques that would be there excuse!!
Its really causing her a lot of worry and shes bottled it all up i went to the doctor and got prozac to cope but have manged not to take it yet I just want to help her but dont know what to do? i CAUSED all this she just trusted me!
Anyone know how to put in words for your statement of affairs?? dont think "im a stupid prat" will cover it!!!

BobProperty

Paul - you / your wife are going bankrupt not being convicted of fraud. You need to check the situation out with some sort of employment law specialist. Unlikely, but is your wife in a union? I think it is OTT if she lost her job because of the area she works in. Do you have her contract of employment (you should) and what's in that about this situation?

kevker

Court is fine, just a few hours, judge reads your petition and declares you bankrupt. You will still be able to access your account until you have the interview with the Official Receiver. You must only use your account for ESSENTIAL purchases. Food, rent, bills etc will all be fine, but don't go buying a new hi-fi or car (these would be taken off you anyway). Once you have been declared bankrupt you may open another current account. Do this as soon after your court appearance as possible (you may as well do it the same day as you will neen to go into a bank and prove your identity, that way you save another day off work). As long as you declare to the bank that you are bankrupt then the OR will have no interest in this account. It is very important that at the interview you declare all bank accounts that you currently hold. It is an offence not to.

NatWest do a solo card with their account, which is accepted anywhere you see the solo or maestro sign. It's swings and roundabouts really as to which one you want. Might be worth you getting a solo and your wife getting an electron, that way you have both bases covered.

At the end of the day, I was like you, very nervous about the whole business. However, the court staff are really nice (the judge was a bit miserable though, but seeing as I only saw him for about 10 seconds it didnt matter), and the staff at the Official Receivers office are great as well. Remember, no-one is there to assign blame, they are just doing their job to make sure that the creditors receive any EXCESS income that you may have.

BobProperty

Can I just add to kevker's comments, the one occasion I was there the staff were all very pleasant and the hearings all seemed to be very brief and a bit of a formality. Please remember they have seen it all before several times a day and know that 90+ % of the cases are absolutely genuine. Just check how to address the judge with one of the officials first. Answer anything he asks politely and with his correct form of address, but only the question he asks. Don't go trying to explain anything. If he wants to know something he will ask, if he doesn't he doesn't. It's his court, what he says goes. You will probably find it is all over in minutes and you'll wonder what the fuss was about.

smokey112

Paul

I realise that Scottish law is different from English - we have the same Bank account as before we declared Bankruptcy - our Trustee told us that although the bank would see the notice in the Gazette they would not even question him about it - so far so good as our notice appeared at end of November (it is a basic bank account with the Clydesdale)

On our forms (we didnt have to go into court) we gave a brief desc of what caused our problems) - this is what we told the Trustee when we had our interview - no probs there.

As I said to SeriouslyStressed in an earlier post I can PM or post here what allowances we put in our forms and these are what the Trustee accepted - I realise that everybodies income and circumstances are different

HTH

Ang
x

PS good luck - I can honestly say it was the best thing we have done - you can be sure we will never ever have credit again (apart from our mortgage)

paul10mm

hi many thanks for the help!

paul10mm

hi many thanks for the help!
it would be great if you could give me some idea of what expenses they allow id be realy gratefull!
i think your right it will probably save my life doing this in more ways than one i had let myself go and was up to 21st!!!JUST so hated myself i have discovered i have a great wife and 2 great kids money cant buy them!!!!
P.s down to 18st and working on it! lol

smokey112

Paul

No problem - I will PM you when I get home from work

We have allowances for 3 kids also (part time not full time as they are my partners kids)

Take care

Ang
x

PS - know what you mean re weight - during our "problems" we where the same - eat anything - drink anything - now it is a New Year and a New start

kevker

As far as expenses go, it's best to just lay out what you pay at the moment. This includes absolutely everything, tv licence, phone bill, don't forget dentist and doctor. Put absolutely everything down, and don't play down any bills. I can't emphasise enough, put absolutely everything down (hope I'm not repeating myself too much). Then when you get to the interview with the OR, he will go through it with you and say what he will allow. Some things he won't, like sky TV (although I have heard in some cases he turns a blind eye to this), but I do think he looks at your overall expenditure and sees if it is excessive.

After this he will then take a percentage of your excess income. The percentage will depend on how much you have left over. I had quite a bit, so I am paying 70% of my excess. The important thing is this is a legal contract so you MUST pay it. That is why I'm drumming on about every bill. You don't want to forget something and realise later you are paying an extra £30 a month for something.

Having said that, if you do find you are struggling, I have been told by the OR just to give them a call and they will sort it out. Remember, their job is to clear you of debt, whilst being fair to your creditors. Not to put you back into a situation where you get into debt again.