iva and or bankrupt.

stressheadno2

my wife and i are currently on an iva.my wife has a business that is about to close down but the lease is in her name not the ltd company name.we own our own house but there is not much equity and the price of our houses at the moment, no one is buying.shewill have to close down as we are in a small enviroment and over the course of her 3 year lease all apart from 1 shop unit has been allowed to sell our core products.she feels that by the sales figures decline, this is the reason she is closing.can she go bankrupt and not me .should we ask the iva company to deal with it for us.she is very stressed at the moment and worried about the house which we have worked very hard for.i have a decent job at the minute and she also works part time for another firm as the shop has not gave an income at all.PLEASE HELP WITH ADVICE .thanks.

dancingfairy

Hmm. Well it sounds quite complicated. I would try and seek advice from a few different sources and see what they say - try the free , impartial places and also of course try your IVA company.
It's going to depend of course on the level of debts you are in, the amount you have offered to the creitors, how many creditors you have and how far in you are.
I am not an expert by any means but in my mind it would make sense if you both had an IVA or both went bankrupt, of course either of you could do either but it seems it would perhaps make life more complicated?
If you are nearing the end of your IVAs then it might make sense to try and see them out, perhaps by agreeing a variation with your creditors or perhaps by offering a full and final settlement if someone in your family could maybe lend you something to finish it all off?
With regards to going bankrupt - the value of the hosue now is semi-irrelevant. The OR in most cases will assess the value of the house at the 2year 3month mark. Whether you get to keep it will depend on how much equity there is in the house and whether the OR deems it necessary to sell it to release this equity - I believe you have the option to buy the equity from the OR. Unless of course the OR judges your house to be in significant negative equity with no hope of regaining any equity and deals with it straight away and lets you keep it.
Do be aware that if your wife goes bankrupt any joint debts will of course fall to you to pay (presumably they are all in your IVA anyway?)
Do you have a job? Does your wife intend to get a job? Obviously this needs to be considered because you need to consider whether you can afford to keep your house (irrespective of what the OR thinks). This will obviously have an impact on whether your wife will have to pay an IPA as well (basically a contribution towards her bankruptcy) for up to 3 years.
It might be worth going to the CAB or other legal aid centre to find out if she is liable for the lease or the ltd company. Sadly I suspect that it will fall to her but obviously it woul help her if it was the responsibility of the limited company. How much debt would the lease add to the IVA? Could she agree an early surrender of the lease with the property company (if someone else could be found?).
Best of Luck
df

dancingfairy

Further thoughts - does your local area have a Business Link? Would they be able to help with the winding up of the company at all?
Have you tried Business Debtline for any help?
By thoughts are that she needs to wind up the Ltd company first and find out what debts will fall to her personally - any personal guarantees signed, that sort of thing, make sure that the company is shut down and she doesn't have HMRC after her for unpaid tax etc . Then she will know what she is dealing with in terms of personal debts.
Best of Luck
df

stressheadno2

the iva we are on has been running for 6 months.i have a full time job with reasonable income,my wife works part time.all the debt we have is in the iva apart from the business loan and the rent arrears.the company is ltd and doesnt have an awful lot of debt regards hmrc and suppliers.thanks