Bankruptcy help!

Mae85

So when my partner left his wife he didn't realise the extent of debt she had put him in. He would just go to work and graft his !!! off day after day and let her be in charge of the money and paying everything that needed to be payed.
She is greedy.
She decided to take out loan after loan to re do there house etc and other loans which he doesn't even know what they are are. She threw him out 18 months ago and since then he has been homeless, sleeping on his sisters sofa and bidding on council properties.
He started getting letters to his marital home which she took it upon herself to hide until his son found them- lots of red letters saying he owes money to his IVA. We eventually explained the situation to the IVA company and set up a monthly payment (they split the joint IVA in two so they were both paying different amounts each month). Unfortunately he became very ill physically and mentally due to all of this stress (it turns out his wife wracked up a debt of over £40,000) and now he is unable to pay his monthly fee. They were really good with him and understood the situation. But now the IVA has failed and they suggested bankruptcy.

He is all for that to start a fresh life and rid of the debt his wife put him in, but we have problems-
He is homeless
He is on CB ESA of £73 a week
He has no assets just the clothes on his back

He can't afford the bankruptcy fees. We are told you can now pay monthly instalments of a minimum £5 a month, £5 is nothing to most people but to him it's a lot when his outgoings are actually more than his incomings (he has kids and pays CMA plus she demands half towards everything she buys for them even though he buys his own things for them)
He has to buy food, build his clothes back up even though it's cheap things, he pays a bit of rent to his sister each week for staying there, phone bill, ppc card for his prescriptions been as he's on a lot of meds due to ill health etc- it all adds up and he's left with minus amount each time he's payed.

We spoke to national debt line who advised us to write to his creditors asking if they would be willing to write off the debt due to his circumstances, only 1 of 7 has replied so far and have said it's not in there policy.

I just need some advice really- if we was to pay £5 a month bankruptcy fee it would take over 6 years- would they really wait that long?

We have been to CAB plenty of times but they haven't been very helpful.

-taff

You should ask for your post to be moved to the bankruptcy board, they will probably be more help.

Mae85

How do I do that? Only joined last night so I don't have a clue lol ��

fatbelly

I'm sorry the CAB weren't helpful.

The first thing is that an IVA is bankruptcy for someone with an asset to protect. The fact that he went into one infers he owned the property with his ex and that there was equity in it. If he goes bankrupt, he would wave goodbye to that.

Has the IVA actually terminated? Have you checked to see if it still shows on the insolvency register? He cannot have more than one form of insolvency so that needs to show closed, or have dropped off completely.

Now for the £680 fees. These days payment is made by card online, though a third party can still make payments through a bank using a sort code/account number/reference that the site generates.

If he has worked in a 'profession' or ever been in the forces there may be a professional body that will help with fees. Elizabeth Finn comes to mind as being helpful.

Finally, and I know this is frowned upon, but I know of several cases where the debtor 'borrowed' money for the fee and suffered no sanction. It's wrong but on its own does not seem to be regarded as particularly reprehensible by the Official Receiver.

Mae85

They did have a mortgage on the house but she didn't keep up with the payments so they ended up selling it back to the council and now she rents it off them. He has nothing to do with that house as his name has been taken off the rent book and everything.

He can't borrow money off family or friends as they are all financially hard up so that isn't an option. As for charities we asked a lot of them for help and they all declined so he really is on his own now.
He has had a letter off the IVa company stating that the IVa has failed and they have told his creditors.

Mae85

Btw I've just checked the insolvency register and he is on there but it doesn't say if it's ailed or not it just tells me when the IVA started?

sourcrates

To be perfectly honest, if he has no money, no assets, then there really is nothing his creditors can do to him.

They cant take what he docent have, they can get court judgement after court judgement but with no money or assets to seize, its a pointless exercise for them.

Mae85

Really? See we have been told this off various help people. He literally has nothing at all- a few t shirts and a pair of jeans and his phone ( which is in my name so it's technically my phone) .
He is on the council house list for a flat but they can't take that from him either can they cos it's councim property? And when we eventually move on together all of the furniture will either be mine or donated to him.
I just wanted to be sure cps I don't want him in trouble or facing jail lol .
If he would pay it he would and he was up until he fell ill.

sourcrates

Mae85 wrote: »

Really? See we have been told this off various help people. He literally has nothing at all- a few t shirts and a pair of jeans and his phone ( which is in my name so it's technically my phone) .
He is on the council house list for a flat but they can't take that from him either can they cos it's councim property? And when we eventually move on together all of the furniture will either be mine or donated to him.
I just wanted to be sure cps I don't want him in trouble or facing jail lol .
If he would pay it he would and he was up until he fell ill.

That would be the situation yes, if you think about it, how can they take assets he dosent have ?

Obviously they cant, if the bailiff turned up, he`d take one look around, see there was nothing of value, and no chance of any money been forthcoming, they would most likely close the case, he would not face jail no.

I would continue writing to his creditors asking them to write off the debts though, explain in detail the situation, even if they dont agree to write them off, they will probebley stop collection activity, which would be something at least.

Mae85

Thanks for the your help! We are still waiting to hear back from them all.
So say if down the line he is well enough to go back to work will that throw a spanner into the works? Like will they then ask for the money again?

TheGardener

TBH - I found our local CAB useless with BR (but they have amazing expertise in housing - CAB are reliant on the skills of the volunteers in their specific location) Get him to contact StepChange online - they are the experts.
Then get over the Bankrupcy Board and start reading all the stickies at the top of the board - they will make all this a good deal clearer.