maintenance order and bankruptcy

caracoo

My husband was ordered to pay me £900 per month maintenance on 22nd of July and on the 29th July he declared himself bankrupt. He then took me to court for an application to vary the order, the outcome being no order as to the application to vary. I contacted the trustee of the bankruptcy and was informed that she has reminded my husband of his duty to pay under the order and she can do no more. I can't help wondering if the order should have been taken into consideration at the time of bankruptcy? The children and I have had our home possessed as a direct result of this and are now renting from the housing association. Wondering what to do next.

alastairq

If your husband included the Order on his SOA for the Official Receiver, then it would have been taken into consideration when calculating if there was any surplus income.

It can certainly be added retrospectively....

The Official Receiver does not specify, or check, how monies included within the SOA are actually spent.

If you have received nothing,then go back to Court, and seek enforcement.

If your husband then declines to pay, go back once more, and get the bailiffs out.

HAve you considered going via the CSA?

caracoo

thank you, that helps. It gets more complicated. We own a hotel together - half each. He ran his ltd company from there, since bankruptcy to my knowledge he has made his girlfriend the director of the company and claims to be paid from the company just £200 per week. They are spending money like it is going out of fashion and he is saying it is not his/ours but clearly it is just a scam. I have asked for my half of the rent from whoever is trading from there but he just tells me that it pays the mortgage which is only £1400 per month which we all know that it costs at least £3500 to let a seaside 8 bedroom hotel. To make matters even worse I cannot force him to buy me out or sell as the hotel is on a cliff edge which is eroding.

alastairq

Hi..Bankruptcy is a personal, individual thing.

If one petitions for Bankruptcy, that petition does not apply to those around you, family, etc.

The GF is perfectly entitled to spend whatever she wants.....she is not the one who is BR.

Your Ex is simply 'living off the back' of the GF......which can be very misleading to those watching from the sidelines.

Anyway, every single financial transaction is a 'scam' of some sort....so best not to get too het-up about it, eh?

As I said earlier, I suggest engaging an expert family solicitor, who can then pursue folk for any 'shares' you are entitled to.....?

caracoo

I have spoken to a solicitor who has informed me that he cannot have it both ways and advised me to write to the judge in family court. I did this 2 weeks ago and have not yet had a reply?

alastairq

Give the Court a chance....like every other Government department, they are running on a skeleton staff [don't take that literally..I'm sure some of them are quite well built! ]......although I would have expected an acknowledgement of receipt.

TheGardener

I'm certainly no expect in this but - if you believe your husband has greater assets or income in his own right then he has declared to the OR then point the OR specifically in that direction . Any evidence you can provide will or course help - do you still have access to any of the business bank accounts or mortgage statements? As a 50% owner of the asset, you must have some way of accessing any rents paid to the company?

As with some high profile 'celebrity' bankrupts - they appear to carry on living an expensive lifestyle when in actual fact the flashy house, car and holiday home are actually owned by the celebrities management company, not the celeb themselves and are therefore not the celebs assets and are not accessible to the OR.

It sounds like you need the help of a good solicitor.:)