Completing BR forms

lisa.89

Hello all,

I have just ordered the forms with my local county court.

A few questions before we start completing though..

1. Me and hubby will be doing BR at around same time (hopefully).. do I put exact same income and outgoings on each form or do I put half the rent etc on each form (i.e £350 each) and half the council tax etc??

2. I only have the debt figures from IVA which was from a year ago. Can I use these figures or do they need to be what they sytand at now.. not sure how to get these?? Would imagine that they would be roughly what they were when we started IVA.

3. What should we say about our 2 x properties that are empty and in neg equity.. should we put down mortgage balance and arrears in notes section and estimated shortfall?

4. Where should we list secured loan that is now in 3 plus months arrears?

Thank you for any advice.. terrified of getting these forms wrong!!

Will post a final SOA before we complete that section - just for any advice now that we have more of any idea of outgoings in new rented house..

One more thing.. just found out we are expecting 2nd child (early stages).. when do we let OR know this?? We have most of our baby stuff from 1st child but will need to purchase a buggy and a cot.. would OR allow extra funds for this?

Thank you so much for any advice xx

sniggings

lisa.89 wrote: »

Hello all,

I have just ordered the forms with my local county court.

A few questions before we start completing though..

1. Me and hubby will be doing BR at around same time (hopefully).. do I put exact same income and outgoings on each form or do I put half the rent etc on each form (i.e £350 each) and half the council tax etc?? if both earn the same, if not you put a "fair" share down, so on your form, if your partner earns the same as you if would be fair to say he pays half of the bills, so put on your form as your income the money he gives you for his share of half the bills, so you then put the full amount of the bill on the form.

2. I only have the debt figures from IVA which was from a year ago. Can I use these figures or do they need to be what they sytand at now.. not sure how to get these?? Would imagine that they would be roughly what they were when we started IVA. a best guess balance will be enough, as soon as they hear you are going BR the amount shoots up anyway so your OR will get a true closing balance.

3. What should we say about our 2 x properties that are empty and in neg equity.. should we put down mortgage balance and arrears in notes section and estimated shortfall? not sure on this one. but if you add all the info you can, the OR will be able to get anything you miss, remember a debt even not listed on the form is still included in your BR, this form is mainly a starting point for your OR, they will do a lot of work behind the scenes, giving them as much info as you can is all they expect.

4. Where should we list secured loan that is now in 3 plus months arrears? you will see on the forms when they come

Thank you for any advice.. terrified of getting these forms wrong!!

Will post a final SOA before we complete that section - just for any advice now that we have more of any idea of outgoings in new rented house..

One more thing.. just found out we are expecting 2nd child (early stages).. when do we let OR know this?? We have most of our baby stuff from 1st child but will need to purchase a buggy and a cot.. would OR allow extra funds for this? an IPA if you get one now can be done again when your situation changes, as for giving you extra for big purchases, I would try and buy those now if you can before BR.

Thank you so much for any advice xx

The forms look a nightmare when you get them but are quite easy to fill in once you get started, I bit a little each day, set 15-30 mins aside each day to fill in the form, don't miss anything out to go back later to fill in, fnd the answer out there and then if you can, this way you will not miss anything out.

lisa.89

sniggings wrote: »

The forms look a nightmare when you get them but are quite easy to fill in once you get started, I bit a little each day, set 15-30 mins aside each day to fill in the form, don't miss anything out to go back later to fill in, fnd the answer out there and then if you can, this way you will not miss anything out.

Thanks..

I earn alot less than my husband.. he earns around £1750 pm plus £100 OT and I take home £673.. not sure how to work out percentage of his / my contribution.. sorry if being thick!

PippaGirl_2

lisa.89 wrote: »

I earn alot less than my husband.. he earns around £1750 pm plus £100 OT and I take home £673.. not sure how to work out percentage of his / my contribution.. sorry if being thick!

1750 + 673 = 2423 so 1% is 24.23

1750 divided by 24.23 = 72.22
673 divided by 24.23 = 27.77

so call it 72% for him and 28% for you

sniggings

lisa.89 wrote: »

Thanks..

I earn alot less than my husband.. he earns around £1750 pm plus £100 OT and I take home £673.. not sure how to work out percentage of his / my contribution.. sorry if being thick!

there really is no hard and fast rules, as you are on a low income I can't see you getting an IPA anyway so the percentages will not even be looked into.

The percentages are what is deemed "fair and reasonable" so it is meant to fit each persons situation rather than be a hard and fast rule, the best advice I can give it put what you do pay towards the house hold expenses, if your OR thinks it's unreasonable they will soon tell you, but as said I doubt it will come an issue.

sniggings

PippaGirl wrote: »

1750 + 673 = 2423 so 1% is 24.23

1750 divided by 24.23 = 72.22
673 divided by 24.23 = 27.77

so call it 72% for him and 28% for you

that sounds fair but as the OP's total household income is less than 2500 it would not be reasonable for the OP to only pay 28% of the expenses.

In the OP's case I would say it would be reasonable to say she pays most of her wages towards household expenses so would leave very little if anything for an IPA, that is why the rules are not set in stone, the OR is happy to look at each situation and accept what the OP's situation is.

lisa.89

Thanks.. so worried about getting our forms wrong..

At the mo, both our wages go into one account to cover all bills (kind of like just one wage going in as we get paid on same day)

Can we just not write same figures on each form is. whole rent and c.tax etc and they will see my income and what my husband brings home.. or not??

sniggings

lisa.89 wrote: »

Thanks.. so worried about getting our forms wrong..

At the mo, both our wages go into one account to cover all bills (kind of like just one wage going in as we get paid on same day)

Can we just not write same figures on each form is. whole rent and c.tax etc and they will see my income and what my husband brings home.. or not??

if both are going BR then best to each put the full expenses on each form and the money you pay towards the bills will go on his form and the money he pays towards the bills will go on your forms.

So your income will be your wage plus his share of the bills is part of your income, so to say.

And his income, is his wage plus the amount you pay towards the bills.

kepar

sniggings wrote: »

that sounds fair but as the OP's total household income is less than 2500 it would not be reasonable for the OP to only pay 28% of the expenses.

In the OP's case I would say it would be reasonable to say she pays most of her wages towards household expenses so would leave very little if anything for an IPA, that is why the rules are not set in stone, the OR is happy to look at each situation and accept what the OP's situation is.

Can you explain why it is not fair, Do not forget that the lowest income will have other outgoings other than the usual household bills, So if all the money is given to the household bills where is the rest coming from.

sniggings

kepar wrote: »

Can you explain why it is not fair, Do not forget that the lowest income will have other outgoings other than the usual household bills, So if all the money is given to the household bills where is the rest coming from.

I'm working on the facts that the bills need paying, fair does not always work, if I was earning much less than my partner and a bill still needed paying I wouldn't turn around and say well tough I've paid my 28%, I would just pay it if I had the money.

If in this situation both are going BR and there is a surplus then they will both or one get an IPA but if between then the joint income only covers the bills, the OR I doubt very much will give an IPA to one if it would leave unpaid household expenses.

Maizy

Hi Lisa

I don't know if it helps but we had the same queries and confusion when submitting our forms and didn't want to get it wrong. The general advice we got was as below and bear in mind our situation is similar in that our earnings are vastly different.

On each BR form the outgoings mirrored each other to the penny and showed exactly what each item was for, mainly of course it was bills and any extras that we pay out of the family income. On the incoming side, I put my income and his contribution towards the outgoings which in our case was his full wage as there was no surplus.

In your case, I guess you just put his contribution to make up your total outgoings so your surplus would be zero. On his side, he would put his income and your contribution which would be your total wage, making his side have a surplus if I remember your SOA rightly, you did have some surplus as a family.

That is of course unless you have any particular outgoings that are nothing to do with family/general on your side and that is probably where the percentages and things come into it making the SOA seem more complicated than it is.

In the end our SOA was really simple as all our expenses are deemed as reasonable for our family and as I have no surplus at all on my wage, percentages didn't really come into it and our forms were not questioned at all by the OR. I think the percentages are really important when the OR is working out if an IPA is to be enforced for one or both parties.

I think things may be a tad simpler when you are both going BR at the same time. All communications we have had have been about both BRs (addressed personally of course) so everything happens at the same time which has made things easier to cope with. If you practice writing it all down a few times, it just clicks into place. At the end of the day providing you list everything and are honest, the OR can always query something if they are not sure.

Did I read congrats are in order Lisa :beer:.