Bankrupty

ELTE

I have a query, if and when I proceed to fill in my income and expenditure form, I include my income plus my wife's income. Do I include my wife's expenditure if the bankruptcy is in my name alone? Also, the OR income and expenditure form doesn't give many options as for where money is spent - .i.e pocket money (for children x 2) holiday/xmas and bday/ on other forms they are available to fill in. Can anyone share their experiences if they have had at least £400 left?

alastairq

Household expenditures, etc are considered joint.

You do not have to state your wife's income, or put down what your wife spends, if such expenditure is personal to her.

But it will be expected that you each contribute 50/50 towards joint household expenses.

If that is not the case, you will have to produce evidence to show why either you pay more, or your wife pays more...[towards joint expenditures]

lilybankrupt

Also, allowable expenses in BR are different to those on a DMP or similar. So pocket money, birthdays / Christmas etc are not normally allowed although a small amount for holidays is (£20 per person?).

That's not to say you can't give your children gifts or pocket money but it will have to come out of another 'pot' such as housekeeping.

Obviously if your wife has surplus income after contributing 50/50 to household expenses (or less if you earn more than her) that can be spent however she wants.

National_Debtline

Hi ELTE,

Just to echo what has been said by the others, your wife will not be asked to pay anything towards your bankruptcy but the OR may ask to see a household budget at some point just to make sure the household expenses are split fairly (it doesn’t necessarily have to be 50/50 but it does have to be split proportionately based on your relative incomes). If you feel the budget on the bankruptcy form is not thorough enough you can add a more detailed budget for the OR to consider, but they may not accept all of the outgoings you list.

If you have a surplus of more than £20pcm the OR can ask for 100% of your disposable money to pay into the bankruptcy for 3 years under an Income Payment Arrangement. This can be amended if your circumstances change during this time. I hope that helps,

Laura
@natdebtline

ELTE

Thanks for all the helpful replies.
My wife is on a lower wage than I, she only works 4 days a week on a low salary so I look after the rent/food shopping/clothing for the two of us plus the kids and my wife goes goes half on the likes of council tax, water, gas and electricity, mobile phone, sky, broadband..so although it may not be exactly 50/50 she still contributes. At the end of the day, my wife works to provide herself with her own money and own independence so I hope that the OR would not judge us on this and force us to live on what is left of her income. The debt is in my name, the property was obtained by me before we ever met so that's why she will not be included on the BR.

lilybankrupt

I *think* it works something like this...but happy to be corrected by others!

If you earn £1,000 a month and your wife earns £500 a month, the OR would expect to see a proportional contribution.

So if your total household expenditure was £750 (across all the categories - rent, council tax, bills and food and so on) you would be expected to contribute £500 and your wife £250.

This would obviously leave your wife with the rest of her income, which the OR wouldn't touch, but your 'spare' income of £500 a month would be taken by the OR.

I don't think you'll be able to say that you pay for x and she pays for y, the OR has a starting point of half each for all household bills or a fair proportional split.

ELTE

I have now handed the keys to the lender via post - they are aware of my plans. I have also informed the HA via letter.
I will now sit back and await the replies.....

RustyB

Use all of your additional notes to explain certain outgoings, my OR said it made her life a whole lot quicker and the OR interview was done in 15 minutes.

For example

£16 Per Month "Working Hands cream" the only cream that works for my sons eczema and we cannot get on prescription.

Also I had quite high on the telephone as we have Fibre Optic Broadband, however as I drive but choose not to have a car I explained that this was necessary for shopping etc and still saved money in the long run as opposed to having a car.

Just explain in as much detail as possible everything, more information is better than not enough and if you simply put a figure and don't explain it you will have to go over it in your OR interview.

Good Luck with it hope all goes well for you.

ELTE

Hi, thanks for the post.
I have completed a typical standard income and expenditure form to show the household income - I have also put all outgoings including my wife's (my wife has nothing to do with the mortgage as the property was purchased before we met). I have also put additional information on i.e. lunch money for work, medicines/prescriptions, dentists etc - normal every day living requirements - the results of the income/expenditure results are that we have no disposable income what so ever - these results are also within the Step Change guide lines.....
The property has now been taken over by the lender, the locks have already been replaced so it looks as though the lender wants to sell this property ASAP. Once I know what the FINAL shortfalls are from the mortgage lender and the housing association (property was a shared ownership 50/50%) I will then proceed with the necessary steps....