Lent money to Brother-in-Law

peachyprice

You can't challenge the bankrupty, he has a right to delcare himself bankrupt if he has overwhelming debts, you and his other creditors would not be contacted until after his bankruptcy has been granted, and considering the way he has treated you it's highly likely that he will not even put you on his petition. The forms are reliant on him being honest (ha ha).

However, with regards to the car, he's going to come unstuck here and things could actually work in your favor.

When he fills in the forms he will have to state whether a) he owns a car or b) he has the use of a car owned by someone else. If he chooses a) he will lose the car if it is valued over around the £2k mark, if it's essential for work the OR would give him a max of £2k to buy a cheaper car, if it's not essential he gets nothing. However, if he wants to keep the car he would have to swear on oath that that it was your money that bought the car and he is only the registered keeper, for BR purposes the RK is not necessarily the legal owner, so if he tells the OR he isn't the owner you may be able to get the car back.

You will be able to check if he has gone bankrupt here, choose all offices, all courts from the dropdown if you don't know where he lives.
http://www.insolvency.gov.uk/eiir/IIRNameSearchMapIE.asp
This will be updated within a day or so of him delaring bankruptcy.

If he does go BR you can contact the OR and dish the dirt, it probably won't get your money back for you if he has no assets, but it will ensure he gets a thorough grilling from the OR.

Does your sister have any other joint debts with him?

JCS1

foxwales wrote: »

I'm sorry but I disagree with you completely, a bankruptcy application has to be fully completed and lodged before a court, this includes details of all creditors and how the debt was appropriated by the applicant. Should the court deem the spending of the applicant to be reckless with the intent to borrow as much as possible with no means or intention to repay the debt, then the court has every power to reject the application for bankruptcy.

IF and IF the court grants the bankruptcy, then the Official Receiver who is appointed will investigate potential assets and spending habits. Reckless borrowing can lead to a much longer term of bankruptcy, however it is at the courts discretion to investigate and reject bankruptcy applications.

Just because you submit a bankruptcy application, is no guarantee that your application will be approved, the same applies for the Debt Relief Order.

Agree with Peachyprice - the court does not go through BR petitions in detail, they instead tend to be rushed through in a spare 5 minutes, and the court do not investigate anything.

It is very rare for a bankruptcy application to be refused - the most common reason being not having the paperwork to prove an IVA has failed.

OP - feeel free to pm me if you want, I used to work for the OR so may be able to answer any questions you may have.

JCS1

And while the bank account is overdrawn, the bank will not allow a name to be removed from a joint account. The best you can do is ask for it to be frozen, and then set up a new bank account for personal use.