bankruptcy please any advice

lisahelp

Hi,
My current situation is that i am around £26,000 in debt and not sure which way to turn,i have been making the min repayments evey month but leaving myself with no money to live on,enough is enough and i am considering bankruptcy as the only way to get myself out of this mess once and for all and to try to move on with life for all my family.
I have a couple of questions if anyone can help please.

my partner has a car but he is not going to be going bankrupt is it likely to be taken or even mentioned?

How long does it roughly take once you decide to go bankrupt to go to court and actually become bankrupt?

Any help and advice would be appreciated.

rog2

Hi lisa - your partner's car should not even come into the equation - there is a question, on the forms, which asks if you have use of a car, and, if it is not yours, who owns it, but unless you are the main user, then the OR is not likely to be interested.
The time lapse between deciding on bankruptcy and actual bankruptcy will vary, dependent on the workload of your local court.
You say that only you are considering bankruptcy - this should NOT impact on your partner's finances as long as you are not financially linked - e.g. joint mortgage/bank loans etc.
Have you discussed your situation with any of the Debt Charities, such as CAB or CCCS?

Posthinking

If the car is your partners and its in his name don't worry. Ring your local court and ask, but....depending on their workload it could be as little as 3 days or as long as a month. Mine said come down tomorrow! Nearly pooed my pants

PixiePie

I'm not very experienced at all of this, so you might want better advice from the very very helpful and knowledgable people on here, but I can recommend National Debt Line to chat to about your personal specific case - they were *so* lovely and helpful to me, so really don't be worried about phoning someone like that.

If the car belongs to your partner and you are the one going BR then it's nothing to do with the BR and it cannot be touched. It's nothing to do with you, so they can't have it. Unless it's actually in your name and is yours and your partner drives it, in which case, sell it to him.

How long does it take? Up to you, depending on how busy your court is (you have to go to the court that deals with BR in your area - there is a website that lists where these are for each area apparently, but I just looked at my local council's website and found the court details, and it said that BR's are dealt with the Courts of Justice on the Strand, not that local court, as I come under London). Once you have the paperwork together (your petition forms, years of bank statements, all credit agreements details, done your I&E (I'm not sure exactly what you have to fill in, am awaiting my pack from the nice NDL people ) you can book an appointment with local court or if you phone up and they say just come down (ie they aren't actually that flooded) you can just go down (as I understand it), but you might want to go through the paperwork first and have it all to hand before trying to book an appointment as you won't be stressing about getting it all filled in in time then. As a guide, I think some people have done it all in a couple of weeks, I've taken about 5 months so far (but then I've been homeless and not able to raise the fee so that's why so long, and sort of stuck my head in the sand a tad ).

Good luck, and as I say, others are probably more helpful with better advice than me so sorry if any of that is a bit confusing

rog2

Well said Pixie Pie - I think you've put it quite clearly. :T

lisahelp

Thanks to everyone for the advice.
I have an appointment with the cab next friday,i will give national debt line a ring on monday and also give my local court a ring to see on the timescale of things.
I am a bit worried about whether or not i will have baliffs etc coming to my home before or after bancruptcy as i have 3 little children.
Any futher advice that anyone thinks could help would be great.
It has all just come to a head,2 of my credit card companies have put the APR up on my cards in the last month when they are at there limit,Egg have put it up from 14.9 to 21.9 when i am at my £5,000 limit.
Thanks again.

Posthinking

Lisa you certainly wont have bailiffs after BR and it will take an age for that sort of action before BR. CCJ, court orders etc, Just get the proff. advice ASAP. Good luck to you sweet

rog2

Bailiffs are rarely, if ever, used in bankruptcy.

wherediditallgo

Two bits of good news for you, PixiePie.

• The court in the Strand doesn't usually charge the £150 court fee even if you're not on benefits. Still carry it with you in case things have changed by the time you get there, but chances are you'll be going home with £150 that you weren't expecting to have.
• The court has a Personal Support Unit. It's run by volunteers who will accompany you around the court on the day of your hearing, & provide you with emotional support. They're very friendly & won't judge you at all. I found them really helpful, & I would have found the day much harder to deal with without my volunteer by my side. If you want their assistance, you need to ring them at least a day in advance to book them - the number is 020 7947 7701 or 7703, and you can find out more info about them here.

betterlatethannever

quickie q,
do all courts have a support unit??

rog2

betterlatethannever wrote: »

quickie q,
do all courts have a support unit??

I don't think so BLTN. I think that the High Court has one simply because of the size and complexity of the place.
However, I think that CAB can provide, or reccomend, a similar service elsewhere.