Struggling to fill in my SOA - SOA attached

GubGub

I've got an appointment for Tuesday to go bankrupt and I'm now in full on tearful panic mode. I was hoping some of you might help me fill in my SOA?

I've kind of worked out the figures - hoping to post them for your advice soon - but I can't work out how to fill the damn thing in. Its just my partner and I in the household but we don't have 'joint' finances. We go halves on rent, council tax and bills. So I would put the full amount in expenses for these but half of this would be covered by partner's contribution. But what do I do about clothing, travel, holidays etc where we do not share the cost? Should I a) double the amount I would expect to spend and add that into partner's contribution or b) attach a sheet explaining this and hope the OR understands or c) something really straightforward I haven't thought of?

If it helps, I'm not sure how much he earns. It would be around the same as me but there is no way on earth he would disclose anything to the OR, so I am working on the assumption the OR will just divide shared costs by half.

debt_doctor

Hi,

In the absence of income information from the non bankrupt partner, the OR will assume that they pay 50% of all household expenses.

DD

Neslein_2

My girlfriend and I are in the same position, although I do pay slightly more than her. I havent had my OR interview yet, but it was accepted by the court

GubGub

Ok, so here's attempt 1. I'm not sure what constitutes a household expense - I've just put that we've paid half of everything each. If that's not right or any figures look unrealistic please correct me. Thanks for your help

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet

Household Information
Number of adults in household........... 2
Number of children in household.........
Number of cars owned....................

Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 661
Partners monthly income after tax....... 658
Benefits................................ 0
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 1319

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 0
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Rent.................................... 400
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 87
Electricity............................. 42
Gas..................................... 43
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 40
Telephone (land line)................... 38
Mobile phone............................ 15
TV Licence.............................. 12
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 0
Internet Services....................... 0
Groceries etc. ......................... 350
Clothing................................ 60
Petrol/diesel........................... 0
Road tax................................ 0
Car Insurance........................... 0
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 0
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 88
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 34
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 12
Buildings insurance..................... 0
Contents insurance...................... 10
Life assurance ......................... 0
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 0
Haircuts................................ 30
Entertainment........................... 0
Holiday................................. 20
Emergency fund.......................... 20
Total monthly expenses.................. 1301


Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 80000
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 0
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 80000


Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 103000...(0)........0
Total secured & HP debts...... 103000....-.........-

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Loan...........................26000.....0.........0
Total unsecured debts..........26000.....0.........-


Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 1,319
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 1,301
Available for debt repayments........... 18
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 0
Amount left after debt repayments....... 18

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 80,000
Total HP & Secured debt................. -103,000
Total Unsecured debt.................... -26,000
Net Assets.............................. -49,000

Created using the SOA calculator at https://www.stoozing.com.
Reproduced on Moneysavingexpert with permission, using other browser.

JustinCredibleGillespie

The thing that stands out the most to me is your grocery bill for 2 people, it is quite high.

JCG

xx

22bear

JustinCredibleGillespie wrote: »

The thing that stands out the most to me is your grocery bill for 2 people, it is quite high.

JCG

xx

It doesn't seem high to me at all..if that's what you spend then that's what you spend..keep it on at that if that's what you need! It's nobody's business except between you and the OR.

McKneff

It certainly is high,

And if the op is posting on here for help, they are making it other peoples business.

Landline is high too


Other travel ?

Would you really be allowed £60 a month on clothes?

22bear

McKneff wrote: »

It certainly is high,

And if the op is posting on here for help, they are making it other peoples business.

Landline is high too


Other travel ?

Would you really be allowed £60 a month on clothes?

The purpose of posting a pre-bankruptcy SOA is not for people to suggest where they can cut costs down...it is to see if the figures are likely to be acceptable to the OR

and yes, £60 for clothes could be allowed...every case is different after all, some will need to spend more on clothes that others so if one can justify the costs and provide evidence then the OR will accept it

here is the link to the average spending amounts issued by the ONS household survey from jan 2012....the food and grocery spend here for 2 adults is an average of £403 per month and clothing £67....terrible, innit? LOL!

http://www.insolvencydirect.bis.gov.uk/foi08/docs/Copy%20of%20Household%20Expenditur.xls

GubGub

I did look at the expenditure figures before posting. And I'll be honest, if I can claim more and avoid an IPA I will!

Lots of the figures are also estimates, given that I only recently moved back out of home. I've tried to estimate toward the high end rather than have a nasty shock later down the line.

Other travel - neither my partner or I drive, so that's a weekly bus ticket each. I felt that was likely to be reasonable.

Landline does include broadband costs, which I didn't make clear in my original post but I require a decent internet connection for my studies so I think I could argue that to be reasonable.

I worked out groceries as about £80 a week. Its not the minimum we could get by on, but I didn't think it was hugely excessive and gave us leeway to cut back in that area if necessary to cover a higher cost somewhere else (or saving up for a washing machine if it packs up on us etc). I thought it was comfortable but not living on waitrose finest! It also includes pet food, which I was under the impression you couldn't claim separately.

Do you think I would be better to cut the grocery and clothes down? I would struggle to justify the clothing. I was surprised by how low the contents and pet insurance quotes came back as well. If I did cut those down, do you think I could bump anything else up?

tigerfeet2006

No it is not high at all. Your figures are fair infact I would up your groceries a tadge to get rid of most of that surplus.

Look at 22bears's post.

PippaGirl_2

Totally agree, I'd bump up the groceries higher.

You may not be allowed that much for clothing, but worth trying.