Bankruptcy a solution to losing a court case?

Energize

I potentially have a court case coming up against me from a former employer, I have no assets, so if I lose the court case can I file for bankruptcy to have the debts wiped out?

NotEvanAPot

Yes. I did exactly the same in February this year. I had completed the paper forms, had them with me in the event that I lost, and walked straight up to the clerks window after the judgement and was booked to come back the following morning. Rubber stamped BR order granted, I then emailed a copy in a photo of me outside the court with a rather immature hand gesture - made me feel slightly better at the time!

I wouldn't suggest you tell the other side, keep it quiet until they attempt to enforce a judgement or they hear from the OR. Don't forget, even if you lose, you have two weeks to pay unless they go straight to high court enforcement. If you make murmurings in the court regarding paying, the county court can even block this happening, guaranteeing you the fortnight.

Judgement amount was £40k with costs against me (combined bankruptcy amount was about £115k including an old mortgage shortfall that hadn't ever been chased), had it been less I may have acted differently. Only you can make the decision on your own circumstances, but please remember bankruptcy is not to be a knee jerk reaction. It will hurt, for about 6 years, in terms of obtaining credit and have wide reaching effects of jobs, self employment and day to day life.

Browntoa

Friend did the same

Did genuine work for the guy , no complaints , paid in full

Roll on a year and friend gets court papers claiming he's failed to respond to series of letters sent to his address complaining about the work and that he's had to get someone in to rip it all out and start again . Strangly the court letter makes it even though all the others he claimed to have sent never did . we suspect he had a history of similar tricks to avoid paying for work

Despite supporting evidence to prove above was pack of lies court case was lost

As friend was struggling anyway he went down the bankruptcy route , gave him peace of mind at last and the satisfaction of knowing the other guy never got a penny

Must point out that me friend never worked in the same field again so it was not a Phoenix company job and he was out of work for 2 years afterwards . He was always going to end up bankrupt

The_Real_Cheddar_Bob

You also need to consider the amount of the debt, vs if you are in employment currently the potential of an ipa.

The way i weighed up bankruptcy was as follows:

amount of debt x probability of bankruptcy inevitability x long term damage to credit file

I worked out going bankrupt when i did in 2010, meant i would be approximately a year/18 months ahead in terms of returning to a "normal" credit position.

If youre able to repay the money within the 6 years, you may want to consider this.

if it is like the post above and is a substantial amount of money, bankruptcy does alleviate you from this responsibility,

fermi

Energize wrote: »

I potentially have a court case coming up against me from a former employer, I have no assets, so if I lose the court case can I file for bankruptcy to have the debts wiped out?

Most likely, unless the claim is a personal injury one. They are not wiped out.

Energize

Thank you. You have reassured me. If the most I stand to lose in court in the worst case scenario is the ~£500 bankruptcy fee, then it puts a different cost/risk perspective on things.