SOA - How Do You Work it Out

Miss_Poohs

When only one of you is going B/R?

My husband is by far and away the larger earner - I only work part-time, as we have a young son.

All the debt is his (he's in a 12yr DAS :eek:), but our mortgage is joint (all paid and up to date).

I don't know if I have to add my wage in or do I leave it out completely.

Also, will they want to see my bank account/financial situation, bearing in mind he ran up all the debt himself, without my knowledge?

Miss_Poohs

Meant to add we don't have a joint bank account. Not sure if that was my saving grace, or my fall at the first hurdle, but there ye go!!

debtinfo

is it him or you that is going bkpt

Merry_Gentry

For the SOA you put down all joint household expenditure. Then he needs to add his personal bills - mobile phone, petrol costs, etc. Put zero in for all debts as they won't be there after he goes bankrupt. He should put your contribution NOT your full income down. If the benefits come to you, they should not be included.

Your contribution will be a % of the total joint household costs - so if he earns 3 times the amount of you, your contribution would be 1/4 of the total.

Once that's complete, paste it here and we will see if we can help with anything.

http://www.makesenseofcards.com/soacalc.html

debtinfo

It doesn't matter if you put your contribution or your income down. The OR will only expect you to contribute towards a fair share of the joint outgoings based on your income and will not take any of your income as a payment towards his creditors. If you do not supply your income details the OR will presume that you pay for 50% of the outgoings. If yoy earn a lot less than the bankrupt partner this wuld result in im paying more. If the benefits are for your children then by not putting them in then the OR could hardly allow expenses for the whole family

Miss_Poohs

Its him thats (thinking of) going bankrupt - not me.

I'll have to nail him to a chair and get it all written up.

He has severe ostrich syndrome.

Merry_Gentry

Please note, this was how I did my SOA so is just my opinion. When I did my SOA with my XHTB (we were still living in the same house at the time but had separate lives), I made sure to not include his income on mine as it would have led to an IPA - he earned four times the amount that I do.

We had the same OR and they tried to impose an IPA on him, but not me. Just my experience.

debtinfo

Here is the chapter from the technical manual which covers spouse income
Have a go at the income calculator

31.7.16 Income received from spouse/civil partner/partner
It is reasonable to expect that within the household of the bankrupt and his/her family, the income received by a working spouse/civil partner/partner (all referred to as "partner" for the remainder of this section) or a partner who receives income from other independent means, will be used to contribute to the household expenditure in some way, for example by purchasing food, clothing for him/herself and any children, etc. The bankrupt may genuinely not know his/her partner’s income and/or the partner may not be willing to disclose it to the official receiver as they are not personally subject to the proceedings. Legal advice has been received that it is not a proper use of section 366 [note 11] to have a partner privately examined for the purpose of obtaining details of his/her income to establish whether an IPO may be obtained or the level of that order and there is no reason why this should not extend to cover IPAs.
Where resistance to the disclosure of the partner's income is encountered, in the absence of any information to the contrary, it is appropriate for the official receiver to assume that the working partner pays for 50% of all household expenditure. This amount can then be incorporated into an IPA/IPO calculation to assist the official receiver's decision as to whether the bankrupt has sufficient surplus income against which an IPA/IPO can be obtained. It is likely that an assumption of this nature will provokea response from the bankrupt and/or their partner and if the required information is then forthcoming, the official receiver may re-calculate the income and expenditure of the bankrupt taking in to account the information provided with regard to the actual contribution of the partner, to establish whether the bankrupt has surplus income available for an IPA/IPO. Flexibility will be required in any re-assessment, especially where the partner works part-time.
As with state benefits which supplement earned income, whilst it is acceptable to include the income of the bankrupt's partner as part of the total income received in to the household of the bankrupt, it should be noted that an IPA/IPO claim can only be made against the surplus arising from the bankrupt's income.Any calculation of surplus income for the purpose of obtaining an IPA/IPO should work out the surplus available having assessed total income and total expenditure of the bankrupt and his/her household, then proportion the extent of any total surplus arising against the income contributed by the bankrupt. The Income Payments Calculator available on the Technical Section intranet site may assist in proportioning the bankrupt's share of any surplus when assessing an IPA/IPO.

Merry_Gentry

I've just read you're in Scotland Ms Pooh's - hopefully the advice above still applies....

debtinfo

Ha Ha - scrap this whole thread then

Merry_Gentry

Yep, make a cup of tea and start again!!