Bankrupt when on maternity leave

all-the-gear-but-no-idea

Hello there, i am kinda new to posting on these forums, but i have had a huge amount of help from other people who know first hand what we are going through.

ok, the back-story... (i am posting this on behalf of my partner, i am taking charge of her finances for her, so she can share the load. i know that she is finding her circumstances hard going.)

me and my partner met in 2007, and have been together ever since, we are so happy together and have been living with each other for the past two and a half years. (in rented accomodation). and both work in the NHS.

when we first met Mrs ATGBNI, didnt tell me about the £35000.00 of debt she had hanging over her head (as she didnt want to scare me away... that would never happen!) and was paying out well over £1200.00 in minimum payments alone, not including rent, living, etc.

After talking her situation through, we tried to work through it. (overtime, second jobs, moving house for lower rent) and were able to live day-to-day (still only paying out the minimum payments). this time last year, we were blessed with the news that we were going to have a baby.

when mrs ATGBNI went on Maternity leave things began to get more difficult, as each month her salary got less and less (i am aware that the NHS provide a very good package though). now her salary is almost non-visible.

my question is not whether we should go bankrupt, (we have talked our situation through with some fantastic people, both in the industry and from first hand expirience,) but more about how do we approach the household income section of the bankruptcy paper work.

do we use Mrs ATGBNI's original salary (not representative any more as she will be going back part time), or do we use a predicted salary (as she has not confirmed how many hrs she will be doing) the same also applies with the child care costs.

it is becoming more and more difficult each day as the phone calls and the letters are mounting up now from creditors (we have had to stop paying the minimum payments in order to save for he court fees). and really would like to get this process started as soon as we can.

the way i see it is, the sooner this will be started the sooner we can focus all our time on baby.

feel better just writing this...

kind regards

silvercar

I hope you are claiming all the working tax credits, child tax credits, help with childcare etc that you are entitled to.

I think you need to do some calculations on whether it is worth Mrs ATGBNI going back to work at all. Not much point working and paying out for childcare if all the money brought in is then used to pay an IPA for 3 years.

As far as the forms go, from reading on here, if she is the only one going bankrupt, she includes her income and your contribution to the household expenditure. Not necessary to include all your income as you are not expected to repay her debts. Given that she is not yet back at work and that any application to reduce hours would need to be agreed by her employer, I would be inclined to put her current minimal income plus any benefits eg child benefit. If she returns to work (and see my previous comment) then you can notify a change to the OR.

all-the-gear-but-no-idea

silvercar wrote: »

I hope you are claiming all the working tax credits, child tax credits, help with childcare etc that you are entitled to.

I think you need to do some calculations on whether it is worth Mrs ATGBNI going back to work at all. Not much point working and paying out for childcare if all the money brought in is then used to pay an IPA for 3 years.

As far as the forms go, from reading on here, if she is the only one going bankrupt, she includes her income and your contribution to the household expenditure. Not necessary to include all your income as you are not expected to repay her debts. Given that she is not yet back at work and that any application to reduce hours would need to be agreed by her employer, I would be inclined to put her current minimal income plus any benefits eg child benefit. If she returns to work (and see my previous comment) then you can notify a change to the OR.

Thank you very much for the reply. Unfortunately the NHS operates a system that means you have to return to work for three months before you can resign post mat leave. If you choose not to do this it results in having to pay back all money salaried during the mat leave ontop of the SMP

Tupperware_Queen

all-the-gear-but-no-idea wrote: »

Thank you very much for the reply. Unfortunately the NHS operates a system that means you have to return to work for three months before you can resign post mat leave. If you choose not to do this it results in having to pay back all money salaried during the mat leave ontop of the SMP

just either get a sick note, or return on minimal hours. my staff do it all the time :mad:

Ineedaname

I thought there were neew rules saying employers couldn't do that? Might be worth looking into, although fighting the mighty NHS could be stressful. Funny how the Government puts rules in place and yet it's the Government agencies who stretch and break those rules.

When you fill out your SOA for the Court, put down Mrs ATGNI's income and expenditure as at that time. Then, as Silvercar said, when things change you have 21 days in which to notify the OR.

One thing to be aware of, if you have any joint finances (bank accounts, cards, loans) then your credit record will be affected when Mrs ATNGI goes BR. Best to separate everything in advance.

all-the-gear-but-no-idea

Ineedaname wrote: »

I thought there were neew rules saying employers couldn't do that? Might be worth looking into, although fighting the mighty NHS could be stressful. Funny how the Government puts rules in place and yet it's the Government agencies who stretch and break those rules.

When you fill out your SOA for the Court, put down Mrs ATGNI's income and expenditure as at that time. Then, as Silvercar said, when things change you have 21 days in which to notify the OR.

One thing to be aware of, if you have any joint finances (bank accounts, cards, loans) then your credit record will be affected when Mrs ATNGI goes BR. Best to separate everything in advance.

Than you very much for this info. I agree, it strangely ironic isn't it. We both work very hard to secure a good quality of service in the NHS, and it could be the NHS that breaks us.

At least mrs ATGBNI told me early enough in our relationship. So that I was able to never setup any financial links. And everything we own is in my name. That sounds horrible I know but it is something that we both decided would be best in the long run. As I need to maintain a good credit score if we ever want to get a house.

Thank you again to everyone how has contributed to this thread. :T

Ineedaname

You're ahead of yourself Mr ATGBNI - sorry, have to keep using the acronym, just love it :rotfl:

Ineedaname

In fact, in my mind you're Mr Atigabani cos reading those letters out in my head each time takes too long.