Sequestration of estate

Lawnlass

Hi there
I'm due in court on Tuesday, I've been petitioned by a solicitor for a sequestration on my estate for a graduate loan (I think) dating back to 2005 or thereabouts. I've had my head in the sand over this for years! I'm self employed and have no assets to speak of other than a van that I recently bought on my credit card to set up business as a gardener and some tools. I'm just about keeping my head above water making the payments doing work as a gardener and a few shifts for Amazon Flex delivery. I've got about 4k saved to tide me over the winter period for rent and bills. Can anyone offer any advice on what to say on Tuesday it would be very much appreciated. The debt is now almost 9k and my credit card stands at about 8k I also have council tax arrears at about 4k. Having written this down I now just want to put my head back in the sand!!

AnotherJoe

What country are you in ?

Lawnlass

I'm in scotland

AnotherJoe

Makes a big difference so thats a key point, I asked because thats not a term I've seen before. Sorry i cant be more help. You need legal advice i suggest which is going to be tough to get n one day. Maybe you can see a CAB person on Monday if they have walk ins?
Otherwise do turn up in court on Tuesday take a friend for support if you can.

mark55man

Plenty of scottish posters so plenty of time before then for some advice.
I am sure someone will be along who can help. just be patient and in the meantime it always goes doewn well if they see you are aware of your living costs and these are not extravagant so just make sure you are in a positon to answer that sort of question.


good luck

Lawnlass

Thanks.... I've never been to court before, so I've got no idea what to expect. I live pretty frugally (if one can do that with the extortionate Edinburgh rental prices) but my kids go to a steiner school, I get a bursary which halves the fees but will that be seen as excessive?My kids have never known any other way.

coolcait

Hi Lawnlass and welcome

Basically, this is a bankruptcy hearing. "Sequestration of the estate" is the technical legal wording that you'll find on all the court documents.

That does mean that it's important to get some advice, if you can. Even if you think that bankruptcy would be an option for you - and this way you won't have to pay the application fee - do try to get some advice on Monday, if you can.

As well as trying your local CAB, local council money advice/debt advice/welfare rights team, and StepChange, have a look at the Scottish Courts website to see if the court you're going to has an in-court advisor:

https://www.scotcourts.gov.uk/taking-action/frequently-asked-questions/general-faqs/legal-advice

I'm not sure how up-to-date the FAQ is, so if your court isn't on the list, you could call the court directly to see if they do happen to have an in court advisor.

If you think that you might be able to pay back the debt, given time, and that the Debt Arrangement Scheme might be a possibility, you can tell the Sheriff that at the hearing. Make it clear that you want to go into DAS and are trying to get advice to take it forward.

The Sheriff can continue the bankruptcy hearing to allow you time to do that, but he/she doesn't have to do that. ('Continue' just means that the Sheriff sets a date for a new hearing, usually in about six weeks or so).

That gives you more time to get advice. You don't have to go into DAS if it's not right for you - right now the important thing is buying the time to get advice.

One thing you can do over this weekend is let the folks on here have a look at how much you owe, what you have coming in and going out - your SoA. I'll need to ask someone to help provide the link because I can never get it to work!

Fill it in, and let the board see it, as that will give us a better idea of where you stand financially.

Lawnlass

Thanks coolcait, that's the kind of advice I was hoping for rather than judgement, (I'm preparing myself for that on Tuesday!)

Lawnlass

I'm currently paying over my minimum balance on my credit cards and was wondering if I took those down to the minimum payments I could realistically pay £100 a month to this, is it too late to offer them that and avoid the sequestration process?

coolcait

Lawnlass wrote: »

I'm currently paying over my minimum balance on my credit cards and was wondering if I took those down to the minimum payments I could realistically pay £100 a month to this, is it too late to offer them that and avoid the sequestration process?

Hi Lawnlass

I'm sorry to say that you can't avoid the sequestration process, because it has already started .

If you want to get the petition dismissed (in other words, stop the sequestration process) you don't have many options.

You can agree to pay the debt in full, in a lump sum or a couple of instalments - but you'll have to persuade the creditor and the Sheriff that you're in a position to do that.

You can come to a payment arrangement with the creditor, and agree that they'll ask for the petiiton to be dismissed. Do you think they'll accept an agreement to pay £100 a month towards a £9,000 debt?

You can try the other options I've already mentioned. But that's really as far as it goes.

Sorry

Edi81

You really need to post a SOA as whilst not familiar with Scottish sequestration this is needed for English bankruptcies.

You will struggle to justify the school fees even if they are halved due to the bursaries.