Bankruptcy scares the life out of us

BrandNewDay

Bankruptcy scared us, too. Like you, my partner had his head in the sand - the debt was all his. Like you, we had a lot of marital stress. I was pregnant and a newly-wed (these debts were supposed to be cleared by him selling his business, but the deal fell through. Thinking the sale was going through meant that I felt OK about marrying him. Thank God it went the way it did and we're now very happy.)

Anyway, there have been a few minor inconveniences - everything has to go through my bank accounts and we're paying a slightly higher mortgage rate - but overall we've been just fine. The worst damage was the emotional strife we endured. I'm afraid I became a bit of a witch while I basically twisted his arm to declare bankruptcy. (My attitude was, "My kids aren't going without just so we can struggle to make minimum payments for the rest of our lives on debts I had nothing to do with!")

It's scary going into it, but SUCH a relief and, honestly, it's the best thing we could have done. It appears you have no house - only worried about a very cheap car that the OR won't want - and so, honestly, you have nothing to lose by this.

rog2

fermi wrote: »

This will either clear it up, or confuse it further.:p

http://www.debtquestions.co.uk/debt_forum/viewtopic.php?p=149507#149507

Thanks fermi - I think.

wherediditallgo

rog2 wrote: »

Thanks wd - it is very confusing - I would read, from your contract, that you were under no obligation to report any changes once you were discharged. I spent over an hour trawling through the Insolvency Service website to try and clarify this point, but ended up seeing both answers - 'yes you must declare' and 'no there is no requirement to declare'.
I think, therefore, that it is better to err on the safe side and declare any changes.
I apologise if my earlier post was misleading - it was written in good faith.
Perhaps there is someone who has been discharged for over a year, who could clarify what they do.

I'd appreciate hearing from them too - I'm certainly not going to take any chances by keeping things secret from the OR, only to have them rear their ugly head months down the line.

scaredwitless32

:eek: Blimey, no wonder I was confused! lol........I thought it was just common sense that you would have to advise any changes in income, I wouldn't dream of keeping information back either, It's just couldn't find a straight yes or no. lol
I will post our income/outgoings etc later if i get abit more time, if you dont mind giving it the once over and any subsequent advice?
Thanks again, and I hope you all have a good (stress free) day!

scaredwitless32

Right, I think we are back to square one again, just phoned CCCs to talk about our situation yet AGAIN,(everytime you talk to someone different, new things are brought up!lol) and it was brought up that my OH will probably not get a bankruptcy order after all.......spoke to a young woman, who was very helpful, and I just wanted to go through everything again to make sure that everything was right. and she pointed out that as I only work very few part time hours and have teenage children, the judge will not rule in favour as I am not pulling my 'weight' in contributing to the household, which is a very fair point. I currently work as Msa in a primary school, I have done since my children where of school age. It was never an issue until my OH was made redundant in Dec of last year. I have tried since the begining of the year to find something more suitable but to no avail.
Has this happened to anyone else?
Now off to phone the job center and demand some help, yet again!

Richard_S

scaredwitless32 wrote: »

Right, I think we are back to square one again, just phoned CCCs to talk about our situation yet AGAIN,(everytime you talk to someone different, new things are brought up!lol) and it was brought up that my OH will probably not get a bankruptcy order after all.......spoke to a young woman, who was very helpful, and I just wanted to go through everything again to make sure that everything was right. and she pointed out that as I only work very few part time hours and have teenage children, the judge will not rule in favour as I am not pulling my 'weight' in contributing to the household, which is a very fair point. I currently work as Msa in a primary school, I have done since my children where of school age. It was never an issue until my OH was made redundant in Dec of last year. I have tried since the begining of the year to find something more suitable but to no avail.
Has this happened to anyone else?
Now off to phone the job center and demand some help, yet again!

Hi sw,

You can petition or be petitioned for bankruptcy for debts above £750. The judge will ask if you've taken appropriate professional advice and that's about the only input the judge or courts will have. If your liabilities exceed your net assets and /or expenditure exceeds your income you are insolvent and will have no problem declaring bankruptcy. It's completely irrelevant who earns what and how much they contribute to the household budget.

I find it incredible that CCCS can come out with something as far off the mark as this.

Richard

wherediditallgo

SW, I think I'm almost as confused as you are! If the debts aren't joint & you're not the one going BR anyway, then what you do or don't do in terms of employment isn't the issue, & has no bearing on whether your OH can go BR. Your OH can petition for his own BR, & the main concern of the court & the OR will be that he's taken professional advice about it. Once that's established, the order should be granted the same day, & it's only after that happens that the OR will go through his SOA in detail, looking at what money is coming in & going out & deciding whether an IPA is appropriate. It's not whether you work or could do more work that's the issue, just how much money is in the family pot, regardless which one of you puts it there. Yes, you live together, but as the debts aren't joint, you're no more responsible for settling them than I am.

Judges can refuse a bankruptcy petition. But I've never heard of someone's partner not bringing home as much money or working as many hours as the judge thought acceptable being a reason for it.

Richard_S

We could do with some clarification here; is there anybody around from the CAB or CCCS?:rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl:

scaredwitless32

blind-as-a-bat wrote: »

Well thats got me confused

BR is a indivdual thing its got nothing to do with anyone else,s position as to wether you can go BR or not only yours most odd

Thats exactly what I thought too. She told me to go into the Debt remedey bit and imput all the figures etc, then add my wage as if it was a full time wage, and then see what happens to the outcome.......... I guess she wanted me to see how little it would take to change the outcome from BR to a DMP, but even if I increased my wage by £500 per month it still came out as BR
Im going to try and get an appointment with the CAB so we can both go and talk to someone face to face as this is stressing me out!

Ill go through the debt remedey again and post it on here tonight. Thanks for all your comments :T

Ps, we took all the money out of my OH's account on monday and I have just taken a call from the bank.........and so it begins

Newstart_4

i filed a self cert about 10 years ago, after begging and pleading with the finance company to either give me time to get on my feet or sell the car my self and after getting nowhere they snatched it back fold it for 5,800 and billed me for the remainder of the 11k finance.

i was so !!!!!! of at how i had been treated, i went self cert, and had absolutly no qualms doing it, obviously this is now well in the past.

unfortunalty a couple of years ago after trying to do the right thing by a business supplier and taking on personal liability for a company debt, they did the dirty on me and filed to have me made bankrupt, i was devestated.

i can only assume they thought i had assets to cover the debt and prefered to recieve it in full rather than payments i could afford, i was gutted!!

they got the order and i got a letter for an appointment with the official reciever and had to fill out paperwork listing all debts income and expences etc.
I wasnt looking forward to it atall,. but the offical reciever prety much said i wasnt going to be paying anythig back, and that wasnt just the debt owed to the orignal person who bankrupted me but any and all debts were wiped.

no one will be hastling you or putting you under pressure, the official reciever looks at things in black and white, doesnt judge and does what is 100% proper, fair, and legal.

stigma is a myth, most of it exists in your head, and i would say that anyone why tries to make you feel there is a stigma, either is lucky to not be in the same place you find your self, or is in just as much a mess and is deluded into thinking they can fight on thru, and bellittle you to make them selves feel better about struggling on.

stigma is not worth the destruction of your life, family, health, nerves, or anything else,
if your in a possition where you need to do it and have been advised to do it, JUST DO IT.

you will not look back with regret, only that you wish things handnt had to come to that, if like me you would prefer to always live upto lifes obligations.

please remember tho im not you, and im not here to advise on wether you should do it or not, im just trying to give an honest perspective based on my own experiences.

debt is no reason to loose sleep, or finding your self in tears.

Dont let anyone make you feel bad about you doing what you need to do, to protect you and yours, and ensure your survival.

JMHO