Court Tomorrow 28th Jan - SOA advice

Bankrupt_Novice

Hi to everyone and thanks so much for all the fantastic help and advice that my wife and I have read over the last three months or so :T - its been invaluable and very reassuring that were not the only poor people in the Bankruptcy situation.

We had a failed business venture which simply couldn't survive the downturn. We desperately wanted it to survive for the sake of our employees so we've ploughed in all of our savings to pay rents etc but on 24th December we knew there was "now't left in the kitty" so could not pay the next rent quarter of 10k due on the 25th December WHAT A DAY TO GO BANKRUPT!!! FOr the sake of our kids though we still had a wonderful family Christmas.

So our 15 years of our excellent credit score and never having missed a payment on anything has been wiped once and for all.

So the Limited Company has been wound up and liquidated and because of personal guarantees within the Lease Documents of the Ltd Company we were advised we need to declare ourselves bankrupt otherwise we could still be liable for the £280,000 rent due over the remaining term:eek:

So we go to court tomorrow morning, 28th January 2009 and I am not worried about it at all as I feel this is new "worry free" beginnings, I know it'll not be easy over the next three years or so but least the worry should(!) go.

I've used the online forms services at the Insolvency website to complete the forms - excellent tip I found on this site - and its made things much more straightforward.

Both my wife and I have looked on these forums over the last few months to see what is and isn't allowed etc on the SOA and have completed the following - I hope you mind me asking for advice and any feedback from all of you out there.

I'll come back to the Forums and advise on what my OR agreed upon.

OH AND GOOD LUCK TO ALL OF YOU!!
CHEERS:beer:

OH AND SORRY IF I WAFFLE, I HAVE A TERRIBLE HABIT OF WAFFLING!!! LOL

First of all we have a family of four, two adults,two children 10 and 4 and we live in a detached 4 bed house.

Mortgage £333pm (gone down from £1000 since January 2008 because of interest rate cuts) - if OR forces us to sell we'll end up paying £560pm for a two bed flat in our area, doubt he will though as our house is in negative equity at the moment like SO many others!!
Housekeeping inc food, cleaning £500 - for 4 people would this be okay
Gas and Elec - £106pm - this is the cheapest in our region as we swap on a regular basis and pay Direct Debit for the lowest tariff. We also installed a new condenser boiler 2years ago so it as econonical as it can be, we only have heating/water on from 6am to 7.50am then from 4pm till 7pm so its not like we blast it.
Water Rates -£47pm
Telephone - £40pm
Travelling to and from work £200 - Difficult one this one! My wife is special needs co-oridnator for a Teaching authority and part of her job is to visit various schools each day for assessment needs so she does a lot of travelling including her daily round trip of 24miles to and from her office base. £50 of that is my diesel takings kids to their school 5.5miles from home. Having wound up the Ltd company I am now out of work, whilst looking I am a Daddy Day Care! I know I will likely lose my car as its valued at £3400 but we'll end up paying £80 per month on bus fares to get kids to school taking into account monthly passes and kids discounts etc etc, it would also cost us in Childcare costs as both sets of grandparents live near the current school so we get free childcare. Although there is a school practically adjacent to our current home we kept our kids in the school nearest our first home because of the friendships they'd built up, because of the schools excellent OFSTED report (the one near our current home is very poor OSSTED in comparison) and our eldest child is one year from SATS and very sensitive about swapping schools if required, he's been in tears already because he'd overheard his mum and I talking. So I'm hoping that we can keep my car, not the end of the world if we can't, or at least get a cheap run-around.
Clothing - £150pm don't know if this is too high for family of 4 but our youngest goes through a pair of shoes every month. No sooner has he got new shiny ones on then he comes home with them scuffed and stistching coming out!!! SO that's around £20per pair, plus school uniforms two, sometims three times a year depending on growth etc. I'm not bothered about my cloths but my wife, as it states in her contract, needs to be of "professional appearance" so she gets my allowance and I get cheap Asda jeans at £3, -does me:D
Council Tax - £141pm
OTHER ESSENTIAL
Pet Insurance -£14pm
Union Sub - £14
Critical Illness and Life Cover - £125 payable in Death or Critical Illness but no "cash in value" so don't know if the OR takes or not, I don't understand insurances and how the OR can cash value them etc. They ask on the SOA the ESTIMATED VALUE of policies, I have NO idea how you work this out - all policies we have or ON DEATH basis anyway, so what do you write down?
TV Licence - £12pm
Secured Loan Repayments - £250pm Secured loan from lloyds TSB which helped us buy the Ltd Company
Holiday - £65pm Funny one this we've read so many people saying YES you can put that down or NO you can't put that down, so we're putting it down just to see.
Haircuts - £26pm - Okay for two adults and two kids? Again I will just do with a razor over the head whilst my better ha, of course, gets my monthly allowance!
Pet Food - £10pm
Vets Bills - £10pm
Childrens Activities - £20 I take the boys swimming once a week. Allowable?
Optical/Dental - £30pm
Dry Cleaning - £20 For my wifes work clothes.
Life Insurance - £27
Car Insurance - £51 for both vehicles
AA Membership - £10
Car MAintenance & Road Tax - £40

I think that's about it.

If all above is allowed to go through we'll have around £520 spare so obviously we'll enter into an IPO I imagine.

IF THERE IS ANYTHING YOU THINK I HAVE FORGOTTEN PLEASE PLEASE LET ME KNOW, AND THANK YOU FOR READING THIS.;)

DON79

Hi bankrupt novice, everything is pretty much ok

only things you could change

keep receipts to confirm travel expenses

leave clothing as it is but the OR may question it - just explain as you have done here.

The life insurance - this is a question I need answered too so can't help with that one am afraid.

Holiday - you could actually put this up to £80 if you wanted but £65 is fine.

Haircuts are £10 per adult and £5 per child

Childrens activities - £5 per week per child.

Dry cleaning will be fine if needed for work clothes


Everything looks fine to me. Good luck for the court tomorrow!

Donna

tigerfeet2006

Bankrupt_Novice wrote: »

First of all we have a family of four, two adults,two children 10 and 4 and we live in a detached 4 bed house.

Mortgage £333pm (gone down from £1000 since January 2008 because of interest rate cuts) - if OR forces us to sell we'll end up paying £560pm for a two bed flat in our area, doubt he will though as our house is in negative equity at the moment like SO many others!! If you are in negative equity then you will be given the oppurtunity to buy the BI. The OR will not force you to move.
Housekeeping inc food, cleaning £500 - for 4 people would this be okay Yes
Gas and Elec - £106pm - this is the cheapest in our region as we swap on a regular basis and pay Direct Debit for the lowest tariff. We also installed a new condenser boiler 2years ago so it as econonical as it can be, we only have heating/water on from 6am to 7.50am then from 4pm till 7pm so its not like we blast it. This is fine
Water Rates -£47pm
Telephone - £40pm
Travelling to and from work £200 - Difficult one this one! My wife is special needs co-oridnator for a Teaching authority and part of her job is to visit various schools each day for assessment needs so she does a lot of travelling including her daily round trip of 24miles to and from her office base. £50 of that is my diesel takings kids to their school 5.5miles from home. Having wound up the Ltd company I am now out of work, whilst looking I am a Daddy Day Care! I know I will likely lose my car as its valued at £3400 but we'll end up paying £80 per month on bus fares to get kids to school taking into account monthly passes and kids discounts etc etc, it would also cost us in Childcare costs as both sets of grandparents live near the current school so we get free childcare. Although there is a school practically adjacent to our current home we kept our kids in the school nearest our first home because of the friendships they'd built up, because of the schools excellent OFSTED report (the one near our current home is very poor OSSTED in comparison) and our eldest child is one year from SATS and very sensitive about swapping schools if required, he's been in tears already because he'd overheard his mum and I talking. So I'm hoping that we can keep my car, not the end of the world if we can't, or at least get a cheap run-around. Just keep the reciepts for a while. As you have said you understand about loosing your car but put a note in when you send the OR your documents and explain why it is necessity and not a luxury. Let him know about the bus fares etc.
Clothing - £150pm don't know if this is too high for family of 4 but our youngest goes through a pair of shoes every month. No sooner has he got new shiny ones on then he comes home with them scuffed and stistching coming out!!! SO that's around £20per pair, plus school uniforms two, sometims three times a year depending on growth etc. I'm not bothered about my cloths but my wife, as it states in her contract, needs to be of "professional appearance" so she gets my allowance and I get cheap Asda jeans at £3, -does me:D Difficult one. I would leave it an dsee what the OR does. He may cut a little or he may leave.
Council Tax - £141pm
OTHER ESSENTIAL
Pet Insurance -£14pm
Union Sub - £14
Critical Illness and Life Cover - £125 payable in Death or Critical Illness but no "cash in value" so don't know if the OR takes or not, I don't understand insurances and how the OR can cash value them etc. They ask on the SOA the ESTIMATED VALUE of policies, I have NO idea how you work this out - all policies we have or ON DEATH basis anyway, so what do you write down? This is very expensive and the OR will have an interest in it I think. So if you die he will get the pay out.
TV Licence - £12pm
Secured Loan Repayments - £250pm Secured loan from lloyds TSB which helped us buy the Ltd Company
Holiday - £65pm Funny one this we've read so many people saying YES you can put that down or NO you can't put that down, so we're putting it down just to see. Yes this is fine
Haircuts - £26pm - Okay for two adults and two kids? Again I will just do with a razor over the head whilst my better ha, of course, gets my monthly allowance! £10 per adult £5 per child
Pet Food - £10pm this has to come from housekeeping.
Vets Bills - £10pm Put this with pet insurance
Childrens Activities - £20 I take the boys swimming once a week. Allowable? £5 per child per week
School Dinners £2 per day
Optical/Dental - £30pm
Dry Cleaning - £20 For my wifes work clothes.
Life Insurance - £27 OR will probably have an interest in this.
Car Insurance - £51 for both vehicles
AA Membership - £10
Car MAintenance & Road Tax - £40

I think that's about it.

If all above is allowed to go through we'll have around £520 spare so obviously we'll enter into an IPO I imagine.

IF THERE IS ANYTHING YOU THINK I HAVE FORGOTTEN PLEASE PLEASE LET ME KNOW, AND THANK YOU FOR READING THIS.;)

Hope that helps.

Remeber you need to do 2 seperate SoA's. Yours has household bills ie mortgage, utilities, council tax. and your own expenses ie mobile phone, car.

You then Put your full income and your wifes contribution to the household bills.

On your wifes you put household bills and her personal expenses.

Her full wage and your contribution to the joint household bills.

Bankrupt_Novice

tigerfeet2006 wrote: »

Hope that helps.

Remeber you need to do 2 seperate SoA's. Yours has household bills ie mortgage, utilities, council tax. and your own expenses ie mobile phone, car.

Thanks for that Tiger Feet.;)

I've been so blinkered at getting the SOA's completed so carefully that yes I had just completed them as if they were joint income and expenditure.:eek:

Thanks again. I'll go online now and get them revised otherwise we would have some explaining to do tomorrow!!

I'll let you know how it goes.

Bankrupt_Novice

Thanks Donna for your advice and revisions.

I'll you know how we get on.

Roll on tomorrow.

tigerfeet2006

If you want to pop the individual ones up then I am sure someone will check them for you. I'm not going to be around but Iam sure someone will be.

Do you know how many copies you will need?

Bankrupt_Novice

tigerfeet2006 wrote: »

Do you know how many copies you will need?

3 of each Petition and 3 of each SOA - my poor little printer!!

Dorothy56

Hope today isn't too stressful for you and is the beginning of a calmer life for you both.

yellowmonkey

to you both.

Hope the day goes well for you

ym

neverindebtagain

Good luck for today, here is to your new life:beer:

Bankrupt_Novice

THANKS TO EVERYONE.:T

Strangely enough I'm not worried about today at all as I know its for the best.

Will let everyone know how it goes.:cool:

:beer: