Filing for Bankruptcy - exceptionsto 6 month rule

livinginabox

Hi

I have a couple of questions re bankruptcy that I haven't managed to track the answers to:

1. There is a 6 month rule as to which court to file in. I'm moving to relatives and then plan to file, my car will be scrapped, I have no income, so under what circumstances would I be allowed to file in the court in the new area where I live? If I file in the old area, can the case be transferred to the OR in the new area on the basis that meetings with the OR in the old area might / would be difficult to arrange?

2 What items area allowed to be retained. I'm specifically thinking of my cd collection - priceless to me, almost worthless to anyone else. I appreciate that it's an asset that can be sold to raise funds for my creditors but a) what value would a sale at an auction raise and b) would the OR be willing to enter an arrangement to sell the collection to a relative if the offer was reasonable and likely to meet / exceed the cost / auction value. In these circumstance we are taliking about 500 cds.

3) House clearance prior to filing. I'm moving from rented (unfurnished) accomodation to live with relatives and as such what furniture I do possess has been scrapped / taken by relatives. This is on the basis that a two bedroom set of furnishing don't fit into one room! My impresion is that although it's a transfer of assets (even if it is household furniture) and that because of the nature of the transfer, the OR isn't going to see it as unreasonable. None of the furniture has much intrinsic value.#

Cheers

livinginabox

bloomin_freezing

Hi

All I can do is tell you what I did, I am not necessarily advising you to do the same but just sharing my experience.

I can't answer your first question but there will b e someone online shortly who I'm sure will do that for you!

With reference to your cd's and household furniture.....I didn't put these on my form. We have a huge dvd collection and a fair few cds, I also 'purchased' an LCD tv, costing just over £1000 from my catalogue 4 months before filing (I sincerely did not know I was going to make myself bankrupt before I ordered this, bankruptcy for me was decided on one day and filed the next), and I didn't mention this on my forms either (I'm sure this would've sold at auction!). The catalogue never bought it up with the OR.

Good luck with everything!

fermi

1) This is from:http://www.insolvency.gov.uk/guidanceleaflets/dealingwithdebt/howtopetition.htm

which gives a good overview of the process.

Which court should I go to?

Not all courts can deal with bankruptcy matters. Bankruptcy petitions can be presented at the High Court in London, or in a county court that deals with bankruptcy matters. Generally, you should take your petition for bankruptcy to the court that deals with the area where you have lived or traded for the longest period in the previous 6 months. If you live in one court district and run your business in another, you should go to the court dealing with the district where your business is, as this takes priority over your home address. If you are not sure which court to go to, you should telephone your nearest county court for advice. The address and phone number of your local county court is listed under 'Courts' in the phone book; you should look for 'civil courts - county courts' and not magistrates' courts. The courts are usually open to the public from 10am to 4pm Monday to Friday. You will need to contact the court to find out if it has jurisdiction to hear a bankruptcy case. The Court Service website at www.courtservice.gov.uk has a list of county courts with bankruptcy jurisdiction, and an index of county courts which will show you the geographical jurisdiction of each.

It's best to contact the court service to confirm which court you should petition at.

If it makes administration of your case easier then it can definitely be transferred to an OR's office more local to you. However if your case is relatively simple (as it sounds as if it might be), then virtually everything would be conducted over the phone or by writing anyway.

2) Even with a large CD collection such as this, it probably won't be worth the OR's while to bother with it. Personally I wouldn't even bother putting it down as a single asset (or breaking it down), but that is a personal call really. Even if the OR claimed them then I'm sure an 'arrangement' could be negotiated, as the OR's are normally flexible.

3) Again I think your instinct is correct. Second hand (non antique) furniture is simply not worth bothering with as far as the OR is concerned.

Hope some of that helps.:)

livinginabox

Thanks for the replies. It's as much as I thought and from reading the forum it appears that the OR will normally take a pragmatic, commonsense and flexible approah to various issues as long as you aren't trying to deceive.

Many people have advised me to "shift" items about - particular the cd collection cos they know how much it means - but I can't "afford" to be caught out in a deception.

I agree that the furniture would cost more to sell / dispose of - especially as the house clearance guy wouldn't touch much of it! As my computer and cd collection are probably the only major non finance items I now own I can see that getting them available for auction etc would be not worth the effort. Here's hoping so!

Regards to all.