Court Date for BR on Thursday and I'm scared

Daisy4567

Evening all,

So, the time has come that myself and DH are having to declare ourselves BR. We've tried an IVA and it didn't work, our court date is Thursday and I just don't know what to expect.

Please could anyone advise?

Also, we have nothing and I mean nothing. Our car is worth a couPoe of hundred max and we don't own our own home.

What will happen?

All of this because we foolishly helped out a family member who decided to stop paying us back.

Tia xx

fermi

Court is pretty much a non event most of the time to be honest. Certainly not something to worry about in hindsight, but I know people can't help it anyway no matter what is said.

It will be fine.

With the car you need to have a reasoned argument worked out for the OR as to why is is necessary for your domestic needs rather than just convenient. While it may not be worth much, for the OR to deem it an exempt asset they have to be convinced of that, otherwise they have a legal duty to deal with it regardless, or perhaps do a deal for a smallish sum.

Darren0901

If you have a similar experience to me then you will be fine!

Nobody in court will judge you or your DH! They deal with many of these cases and the fact that you've tried an IVA will work in your favour!

Don't panic, there's no need to!

Banquo21

So easy and stress free for me. The chat with the clerk was friendly. They just went through my forms. Told me to go get a coffee and come back in around an hour to see the Judge. The judge didn't er..... Judge me and it that part was all over in less than 5 minutes.

Good luck

owlet

As the others have said, no problem, very easy & a big relief!
Are you fully prepared with bank accounts, soa etc?

Daisy4567

Thank you guys. Owlet, how do u mean? Got the SOA ready but what about bank account?

tigerfeet2006

What bank account do you have?

owlet

Daisy4567 wrote: »

Thank you guys. Owlet, how do u mean? Got the SOA ready but what about bank account?

You need to have a basic bank account, either with Barclays or Co-op. Any other account (even if it's a basic one) will almost certainly be closed.

Have a read of the stickies on this board & make sure you are fully prepared. It will make life much easier for you.

Edit: I see you are at court on Thursday. It's too late to open a Co-op account because they won't open one for undischarged BR. You can still open a barclays basic account though.

The other option is to delay your BR a few weeks and get your banking sorted first. Any income going into your frozen account, you will have to apply to the OR to get released.
I would seriously recommended delaying if you haven't got your bank accounts sorted.

Daisy4567

Hi, thank you. We went into the bank yesterday (Barclays) and they said as we are already on a basic cash card account we will be ok and they (as in the bank) won't freeze it.

Will the OR freeze it? Can the OR do that?

Our incomes both go into the account as it is a joint one and also, we are expecting a small payment through from our car insurance for an accident my husband had a few weeks ago where the car was written off. We need the income from this to pay for the replacement car and I can't have the OR claim this money?

alastairq

I recommend you open your own [ie, separate] bank accounts.....and maybe close the joint account?

Whilst you appear to both be petitioning for BR
...it will be in both your best interests to separate yourselves financially.

You may not see that now, but you do not know what the future may hold? As individuals, the financial link may at some point provide difficulties.

A question, however.

Do you both need to petition for BAnkruptcy?

Do you both need to petition BR at the same time??

[IE, do you yourself hold any debts which you cannot re-pay? Are any debts solely in your name? Are any debts under joint liability?]

Daisy4567

Unfortunately, yes, we do both have to go bankrupt. We both have quite a sum of debt in each of our names. Some joint, some singularly but all through helping someone out who left us with the debt and stopped repaying us. (Lesson learnt!)

We have sought professional advice from the CAB who also agree it is our best option. We tried an IVA but it failed.