Maladministration of Bankruptcy & Pension?

puddlepuss

Hi. I was declared bankrupt in 1997 & went through all the required procedure with the official receiver, producing a 'statement of affairs' & handing over my personal pension policy as required under bankruptcy law as it applied then. Due to a 'mix-up' by the official receiver, I was not discharged from bankruptcy until 2002.
Six years later in 2008, I received a letter when I reached the age of 55 stating that as the official receiver was the 'trustee' of my private pension they intended to realize the 'non-protected rights' lump-sum portion of my pension fund. (Luckily, I had stopped paying into the pension when I became bankrupt so the amount the official receiver intended to claim was only about £9000). They also offered me the chance to 'buy back' their interest in my pension if I paid them the sum of £4500. Unfortunately, at the time I had no funds available to do this so I had no option but to leave things as they were, so to speak.


In light of this, I wrote back & asked the official receiver if I could have a list of the original creditors in my bankruptcy so I could see how the monies from my bankruptcy estate would be distributed. I did not receive a reply to my letter for some time so I wrote to them again. At last, I received a letter containing the creditor list I had asked for...unfortunately it was not mine but someone else's creditor file entirely! When I wrote back & complained, I was then sent another creditor list that WAS mine, but with my then current banking & credit providers on it, not those from my original bankruptcy of 1997!
Being disgusted & frustrated with all this 'messing about', I wrote an official letter of complaint accusing the official receiver of 'gross maladministration' in the handling of my bankruptcy. I duly received a reply from them apologising for the delays & 'mix-ups' but denying 'maladministration' on their part. Totally disheartened, I decided not to pursue the matter any further as I had other more important things happening in my life at the time & had to move on from this debacle.

Another six years later in January of this year (having turned 60 last October) I decided to contact my private pension provider Scottish Widows and enquire as to how much of my pension 'pot' was left after the official receiver had taken their 'cut'. I received a reply from them to say that the official receiver had not yet contacted them but that when they did, they would only be allowed to take the 'non-protected rights' portion of my pension pot. Because of this they were unable to tell me what my final pension fund would be. I wrote back to Scottish Widows to ask why the official receiver had not realised their interest in my pension when I had turned 55 yrs old? They replied to say that it was nothing to do with them & that I should contact the official receiver directly.


This worried me greatly as I have a type of 'builder' pension fund that increases in value each year even though I no longer pay into it. Because the official receiver had not taken the NPR portion of my pension in 2008 when I turned 55 (As was their intention then) the fund value has increased significantly over the last five years & as such, has the percentage they can take has also increased? Is the OR allowed to do this or should they have taken the funds when I reached 55?


I wrote to the OR to demand an explanation but they just replied to say that all 'pensions in bankruptcy' cases are now dealt with by an appointed 'contractor' & I should contact them. I duly did this & received the following reply:


"Dear Sir,

We refer to your recent email and have noted the contents.

We apologise for the delay in responding to you but we have received communication from Scottish Widows stating that there is a forfeiture clause that applies to policy *******************, we have requested further documentation and therefore are not in a position to confirm when the policy will be realised.

We will update you accordingly.

Yours faithfully

Wragge & Co LLP"


On reading this reply, I was totally shocked & dismayed to say the least! Why had Scottish Widows not informed me in our recent correspondence that my pension is in fact 'forfeit' in the event of bankruptcy? Surely the official receiver would have informed them years ago in 1997 when they confiscated my pension policy? It seems inexplicable that they have only just discovered that I was declared bankrupt back in 1997. If my pension is indeed 'forfeit' then why has it still been increasing in value all these years? Does this mean that Scottish Widows are allowed to carry on adding profits to my pension fund knowing full well that I would eventually have no claim on it, thereby confiscating the built-up funds for themselves? I have lots of questions but no answers unfortunately.


Since January I have had no correspondence whatsoever from Scottish Widows or Wragge & Co LLP.


We are now at the end of May & I am considering whether I should contact a solicitor for advice or write to the relevant ombudsman to raise a complaint about the handling of my bankruptcy affairs by the official receiver & the administration of my pension by Scottish Widows. :mad:


Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

TheGardener

Gosh - that's a lot to take in. To be honest unless the Debt Doctor can help you ( he's a poster on here when there is a tough legal problem - he's pretty good! :A) then I would think a solicitor with a sound understanding of Bankruptcy would be a good call.

JCS1

Were Wragge & Co appointed Trustees? If so, then the OR would have handed over the case to them.

There is a complaints procedure here, very last document:

http://www.bis.gov.uk/insolvency/Publications

debtinfo

Hi JCS, Wragge & co arnt the trustees they are just agents contracted for the work, a bit like clarke willmott are contracted for the IPA's. Wragge & co have taken on all the old pension assets as they can be quite complicated.

JCS1

debtinfo wrote: »

Hi JCS, Wragge & co arnt the trustees they are just agents contracted for the work, a bit like clarke willmott are contracted for the IPA's. Wragge & co have taken on all the old pension assets as they can be quite complicated.

Aha, that explains it. My cases were (thankfully) after HMRC approved pensions were exempt so I never had to get my head around the 'old' system