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My Day At Newcastle Court - 28th Jan, It's Over!!!
Bankrupt_Novice
Posts: 39 Forumite
:j
Well folks I promised I'd get back to you to explain about my Bankruptcy Hearing earlier today.
First things first we made certain we had the three copies of each form, so thats 12 forms altogether. Tick.
Did we have the £495 fees each? Tick.
Not sure if we needed formal ID so we took some in case? Tick - we didn't need this.
Parking money? TICK
Money for food/drink? TICK
Left the house around 10.10 (later than hoped). Got parked at the Quayside NPC very easily around 10.28 - it was 70p an hour I think but I just paid up till around 4pm, just in case.
Had to make my OH speed up slightly from car park- not good in the high heels, her not me!! So she wasn't best pleased.
We made it in plenty of time.
Had to be searched on entry just like an airport and empty pockets, well my coat pockets are like a Tardis and were full of kids sweet wrappers, hankies, various keys and small change - how embarassing.
We were asked why were were here by the Usher directly after the search. I advised him Bankruptcy and he told us to go to the first floor and then go through the doors at the top of the staircase and turn right and enter the next office on the left, Insolvency and Bankruptcy was on the door.
Told the lovely lady -(thanks Miss Horsfield:T )- that we had two appointments 10.40 and 10.50. She asked us to wait in the main waiting area next door as she had a gentlemen in front of us.
About 5 or 10 mins later she called us back into the original room and went through our forms. The Insolvency Website had missed the last page of all of our forms for some reason, so she quickly made copies of these and put all the forms together.
She asked a few questions so that she could cross off the correct wording on the Petition and got us to sign in various places throughout.
We paid our fees and then was told we could go and have a cup of tea or coffee in the canteen as we would not be seen by the judge until around 12.
She told us at 12 we should go to the Court waiting area which is just a very long and narrow corridor two doors up from this office, take a seat and between 12 and 1 our names would be called - she also said that if only one of our names were called if we told the Court Usher we were together we could likely be seen together. Much relief for my OH.
Anyway so we went to the canteen on the 2nd floor. My god what an awful place, I can now understand why Ms Horsfield said she never used it. I thought in the Law Courts it would be fairly nice -how wrong was I.
Greasy spoon hear I come. It was awful. Coffee was just from a thermos flask on the counter with somewhat oddly discoloured milk from another flask
. My OH had tea and it was brewed from lukewarm water, again from a flask on the counter, and poured over a stained tea bag that had been sitting on the bench since about 1963 by look of it!! Oh and the service was like something from Fawlty Towers, "BASIL!!!" - SO AVOID AT ALL COSTS!!
It was also mainly full of skinhead, foul mouthed youths - not the best of company!!
Anyway we waited around 45 to 50 mins and then at 11.55 we headed to the Court waiting area.
We had to wait in this narrow corridor for about 35mins - it did not feel that long as there so many people moving around - we also fortunately sat near the toilets in case nerves got the better of us! They didn't.
Around 12.35 the Usher called both our names (so that was good as sometimes you are seen separately). He showed us into a room and I thought this was a waiting room for the main court but no this was the court - just a small messy office with an old bloke in a suit at one end of the desk.
Now could this be the judge I thought to myself?
Surely not he isn't even in his robe or wig, you see I was expecting the Crown Court scenario so was much relieved with this "small office" setup.
Though he had the appearance of a rather kind, but somewhat wornout solicitor-type in a suit, you could tell from his demeanour that he could be very stern if he wanted to be, he is a Judge after all.
Silence for the first minute or so - the silence was the worst part.
He asked me "do you have a mortgage? What is house worth and how much is owing?". I answered and he said "so you are in negative equity?", "Yes", I replied.
Silence, had a further read of form and then asked, "so are these all failed business ventures then?"
My OH said I should have simply said "Yes" at this point, but no I decided to correct him. I advised him that it was one business venture that had failed and I explained why, I also explained that we were now liable for some debt because of the Ltd company.
Silence again.
He then looked up rather concerned and said, somewhat sarcastically I felt, "Well what was the POINT of the Limited Company then? WHAT ARE THEY FOR?", i.e. trying to explain to me that one sets up a limited company to be limited in the eyes of the law. Of course I know exactly what Limited Companies are for but I corrected him again and explained that at the time of purchase we wanted to run the business as a partnership but that Landlord had insisted we purchase the shares of the Limited Company whilst at the same time making us sign personal guarantees for the Lease etc - so they had us all ways.
He smiled. I think he actually liked how I was correcting him - well I was annoyed that he didn't seem to take in what he had clearly written down in front of him, bless his old eyes though as I bet he had hundreds of casefiles to read through today.
Silence again - think he now grasped that we had personal debt because of the personal guarantees from the Limited Company and not because of us going mad on spending sprees.
Silence. He looked up at the clock and stamped and signed my form. Surprisingly he did not ask us the main question "Would you agree that you have lived beyond your means?" - so he obviously did understand that we did not mess this up ourselves.
He opened my OH's form and asked her if these were similar debts which she agreed. He had a quick look through but did not ask her a single question. He again looked up at the clock, stamped and signed her form.
He declared us both Bankrupt at around 12.42 and explained it was now up to the Official Receiver to investigate our finances and decide on what we can afford to pay back and decide on any assets that need to be seized, cars for example.
The OR should contact us within a couple of days - he'll write to us, and then make arrangements for an official interview, all done over the phone.
So all in all a very easy experience.
As we left the court there was a huge row of people sitting in the narrow corridor waiting area so I made a point of looking happy as not to worry them further.
So not a painful day after all, except for the coffee and sandwich in the court canteen, that was truly painful!!
:T
Well folks I promised I'd get back to you to explain about my Bankruptcy Hearing earlier today.
First things first we made certain we had the three copies of each form, so thats 12 forms altogether. Tick.
Did we have the £495 fees each? Tick.
Not sure if we needed formal ID so we took some in case? Tick - we didn't need this.
Parking money? TICK
Money for food/drink? TICK
Left the house around 10.10 (later than hoped). Got parked at the Quayside NPC very easily around 10.28 - it was 70p an hour I think but I just paid up till around 4pm, just in case.
Had to make my OH speed up slightly from car park- not good in the high heels, her not me!! So she wasn't best pleased.
We made it in plenty of time.
Had to be searched on entry just like an airport and empty pockets, well my coat pockets are like a Tardis and were full of kids sweet wrappers, hankies, various keys and small change - how embarassing.
We were asked why were were here by the Usher directly after the search. I advised him Bankruptcy and he told us to go to the first floor and then go through the doors at the top of the staircase and turn right and enter the next office on the left, Insolvency and Bankruptcy was on the door.
Told the lovely lady -(thanks Miss Horsfield:T )- that we had two appointments 10.40 and 10.50. She asked us to wait in the main waiting area next door as she had a gentlemen in front of us.
About 5 or 10 mins later she called us back into the original room and went through our forms. The Insolvency Website had missed the last page of all of our forms for some reason, so she quickly made copies of these and put all the forms together.
She asked a few questions so that she could cross off the correct wording on the Petition and got us to sign in various places throughout.
We paid our fees and then was told we could go and have a cup of tea or coffee in the canteen as we would not be seen by the judge until around 12.
She told us at 12 we should go to the Court waiting area which is just a very long and narrow corridor two doors up from this office, take a seat and between 12 and 1 our names would be called - she also said that if only one of our names were called if we told the Court Usher we were together we could likely be seen together. Much relief for my OH.
Anyway so we went to the canteen on the 2nd floor. My god what an awful place, I can now understand why Ms Horsfield said she never used it. I thought in the Law Courts it would be fairly nice -how wrong was I.
Greasy spoon hear I come. It was awful. Coffee was just from a thermos flask on the counter with somewhat oddly discoloured milk from another flask
. My OH had tea and it was brewed from lukewarm water, again from a flask on the counter, and poured over a stained tea bag that had been sitting on the bench since about 1963 by look of it!! Oh and the service was like something from Fawlty Towers, "BASIL!!!" - SO AVOID AT ALL COSTS!!It was also mainly full of skinhead, foul mouthed youths - not the best of company!!
Anyway we waited around 45 to 50 mins and then at 11.55 we headed to the Court waiting area.
We had to wait in this narrow corridor for about 35mins - it did not feel that long as there so many people moving around - we also fortunately sat near the toilets in case nerves got the better of us! They didn't.
Around 12.35 the Usher called both our names (so that was good as sometimes you are seen separately). He showed us into a room and I thought this was a waiting room for the main court but no this was the court - just a small messy office with an old bloke in a suit at one end of the desk.
Now could this be the judge I thought to myself?
Surely not he isn't even in his robe or wig, you see I was expecting the Crown Court scenario so was much relieved with this "small office" setup.
Though he had the appearance of a rather kind, but somewhat wornout solicitor-type in a suit, you could tell from his demeanour that he could be very stern if he wanted to be, he is a Judge after all.
Silence for the first minute or so - the silence was the worst part.
He asked me "do you have a mortgage? What is house worth and how much is owing?". I answered and he said "so you are in negative equity?", "Yes", I replied.
Silence, had a further read of form and then asked, "so are these all failed business ventures then?"
My OH said I should have simply said "Yes" at this point, but no I decided to correct him. I advised him that it was one business venture that had failed and I explained why, I also explained that we were now liable for some debt because of the Ltd company.
Silence again.
He then looked up rather concerned and said, somewhat sarcastically I felt, "Well what was the POINT of the Limited Company then? WHAT ARE THEY FOR?", i.e. trying to explain to me that one sets up a limited company to be limited in the eyes of the law. Of course I know exactly what Limited Companies are for but I corrected him again and explained that at the time of purchase we wanted to run the business as a partnership but that Landlord had insisted we purchase the shares of the Limited Company whilst at the same time making us sign personal guarantees for the Lease etc - so they had us all ways.
He smiled. I think he actually liked how I was correcting him - well I was annoyed that he didn't seem to take in what he had clearly written down in front of him, bless his old eyes though as I bet he had hundreds of casefiles to read through today.
Silence again - think he now grasped that we had personal debt because of the personal guarantees from the Limited Company and not because of us going mad on spending sprees.
Silence. He looked up at the clock and stamped and signed my form. Surprisingly he did not ask us the main question "Would you agree that you have lived beyond your means?" - so he obviously did understand that we did not mess this up ourselves.
He opened my OH's form and asked her if these were similar debts which she agreed. He had a quick look through but did not ask her a single question. He again looked up at the clock, stamped and signed her form.
He declared us both Bankrupt at around 12.42 and explained it was now up to the Official Receiver to investigate our finances and decide on what we can afford to pay back and decide on any assets that need to be seized, cars for example.
The OR should contact us within a couple of days - he'll write to us, and then make arrangements for an official interview, all done over the phone.
So all in all a very easy experience.
As we left the court there was a huge row of people sitting in the narrow corridor waiting area so I made a point of looking happy as not to worry them further.
So not a painful day after all, except for the coffee and sandwich in the court canteen, that was truly painful!!
:T
0
Comments
-
Congratulations and Well Done Bankrupt Novice..... what an interesting day!
I love the description of "the old bloke in a suit" - so like MrE disappointed that "he wasn't even wearing a wig" ........lol
A number of us seem to have found ourselves in amongst colourful company on our BR days ..... oh well, variety is the spice of life, they say.
Well done to you both... high heels off and feet up now.... you deserve a drink!
SA2011 - New year, New start, New me[STRIKE]Planning on [/STRIKE] making my dreams a reality0 -
We all die. The goal isn't to live forever, the goal is to create something that will0 -
Im so glad that bit is over for you, The court day itself was the most worrying part although I too found it easy in the end :-)0
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Well Done Bankrupt Novice!!!! I so wish I was at that stage now! And I symapthise totally with pain of high heels!! lol
Heres to a brand new start!!;)
Court date March 6th!:j 1 week after BR and feeling pretty good!:j0 -
Congratulations!!! just reading that has made me feel really really nervous as mine is in the morning but will hold on to the fact you said it wasn't that bad. nope knees still knocking.
Congrats tho0 -
Congratulations Bankrupt Novice and well done being so brave as so correct the Judge! I would have just squeaked out a yes and left it at that if that had been me!
Well done!
Donna
BSC #215/No.1 Jan 09 Club0 -
Well done. I had mine today.
You can join the January 2009 BR Club now if you haven't already
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=1363835Money, money, money. Must be funny, in a rich man's world. :rolleyes:0 -
Congrats BN
ym0 -
Hiya BanKrupt Novice (although you should change it to pro now!)
It sounded from your other posts that you had quite a bit of debt to write off? Did the judge have anything to say bout that? Our joint debt will probs be around £110k (2 businesses and personal too) Just sounds such a lot that I'm worried they will see that as being totally irresponsible? Probs just worrying to much! Heres to a brand new start!!;)
Court date March 6th!:j 1 week after BR and feeling pretty good!:j0 -
Congratulations Bankrupt Novice, sounds as though that wasn't too bad an experience at all! I will bear in mind the advice about the tea and take a bottle of water with me I think!No9 Feb 09 Club0
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