IPA Question for the OR

WaterMan

I have submitted an IPOQ about a month ago. The form I asked what figure my partner contributed to household expenses.

The OR came back saying that in the absence of actual income, they would assume that they pay 50% of the shared expenses.

Firstly the form never asked what she earnt it was the amount she contributed. She earns less than me certainly after expenses and travel. It seems she is intimating that she wants to know how much she earns each month. Surely the IPA should be based on my income I was the one made bankrupt after all!!

The IPOQ form is confusing.

As a side note my wife is also 3 months pregnant so I suppose when the baby is born another IPOQ will have to be produced as she will be no longer working.

One other question how will the IPA be taken direct from my pay packet or from a direct debit from my account?

WaterMan.

fermi

OR's guidance manual says that:

Section (i) Income received from spouse/civil partner/partner

31.7.71 Income received from spouse/civil partner/partner

It is reasonable to expect that within the household of the bankrupt and his/her family, the income received by a working spouse/civil partner/partner (all referred to as "partner" for the remainder of this section) or a partner who receives income from other independent means, will be used to contribute to the household expenditure in some way, for example by purchasing food, clothing for him/herself and any children, etc. The bankrupt may genuinely not know his/her partner’s income and/or the partner may not be willing to disclose it to the official receiver as they are not personally subject to the proceedings. Legal advice has been received that it is not a proper use of section 366 URL="https://www.insolvencydirect.bis.gov.uk/technicalmanual/Ch25-36/Chapter31/part7/part3/part_3notes.htm#6"]note 6[/URL to have a partner privately examined for the purpose of obtaining details of his/her income to establish whether an IPA/IPO may be obtained.

31.7.72 Ascertaining partner’s income where bankrupt does not co-operate

Where resistance to the disclosure of the partner's income is encountered, in the absence of any information to the contrary, it is appropriate for the official receiver to assume that the working partner pays for 50% of all household expenditure. This will enable an income payments calculation to be completed to ascertain whether there is any surplus, and the bankrupt’s share of that surplus, against which an IPA/IPO can be sought. It is likely that an assumption of this nature will provoke a response from the bankrupt and/or their partner and if the required information concerning the exact amount of the partner’s income is then received, the official receiver may re-calculate the income and expenditure of the bankrupt taking in to account this new information.

Obviously if they are willing it makes sense to disclose their income, as you should really be paying more that 50% and so have less available spare for an IPA.

TheGardener

WaterMan wrote: »

One other question how will the IPA be taken direct from my pay packet or from a direct debit from my account?

WaterMan.

Not usually via payroll - a 3rd party appointed by the OR (usually a company called Clarke Willmott) will contact you and arrange for you to make the payments directly to them either by DD or via their payment portal website.

alastairq

Disclosing the income helps to provide evidence that a partner contributes less than 50% of household expenditure.

WaterMan

ever so helpful replies as usual. I am more than happy to disclose the amount my partner earns and will now go back to her. The point is though there is no mention on it on the form thats whats got me a bit annoyed.

queensland

When I did my form the OR worked out the percentages of our wages, for example I earn 42% of our total income, therefore the OR worked out my share of the joint bills using that percentage. Hope that makes sense, and helps