Advice on potential bankrupcy of partner

kisangani

Hello all.

I'd be very grateful if you could offer me some advice. Apologies for the long post but I wanted to try and tell the story.

My girlfriend has been running her own business (limited company) for several years and is now at a point where she realises the business is not viable. She is likely to put the business into administration.

In addition to the business debts, she has also spent £35k on the business, using personal credit cards. On top of that, she is also personally liable for half of the business overdraft (£20k).

We live together in a flat which we own as tenants in common (95% me, 5% her). I am in the process of remortgaging by myself and removing her name from the deeds; this is genuinely unconnected to her financial situation - I've always paid the mortgage myself and I had always intended to take it all on once I earned enough to get the mortgage by myself.

She clearly needs to seek professional advice but I would be grateful for any thoughts.

Firstly, is it likely that she would be able to go bankrupt (not IVA) ?

She has worked incredibly hard with the business, hasn't taken any money out of it at any time but has obviously made a few bad decisions. She is getting ill from the stress of the business and personal debts and now feels she would like to try and draw a line under it all.

I've pumped £50k of my own cash into her business so far, that's water under the bridge but I now simply do not have any spare money. I can't help her any more without going into debt myself.

Secondly, if she did go bankrupt, would the fact that I had remortgaged the flat and taken her off the deeds some time beforehand need to be declared?

I don't want to do anything dishonest; I'm keen for her to have a clean start if that is possible, and I would like to avoid losing any more of my money.

Many thanks.

maxmycardagain

We live together in a flat which we own as tenants in common

????????

whats that then?

kisangani

My understanding is that "tenants in common" is the phrase used when two people purchase a property but have unequal shares. In our case 95% in my favour and 5% in hers.

This is distinct from the much more common "joint tenancy" where the whole property is owned by both parties together.

MercMan

This is correct as my ex has 55% and I have 45% which means, according to my solicitor, she can refuse a charge being put on the property for my debts as the majority 'share holder'. BTW I did say this to one of my creditors and they dropped the 'we'll put a charge on your property' stance. So I guess it works!

deedee_3

The only thing about transfering her percentage to you is are you paying her the going market rate? The OR may see this as her disposing of assets as it is so close to bankruptcy.

She needs to get professional advice from one of the debt charities. There is a list of them in the first post of the Bankruptcy Help sticky.