Help please

RUN_DMC

He doesn’t pay rent just bills. He didn’t know at the time of the sale that he was going to go bankrupt. His health is declining and he thought he would sell it to us as it would be easier later on down the line. Her brother didn’t want the house so he took the money to buy a house of his own.

She is seeking legal advice and the solicitor said it all relies on the timing of the paperwork. The father in law is really down about the whole thing as he didn’t know it would end up like this and none of it was intentional.

RUN_DMC

The idea was that the family would move into the house when he’s no longer with us since this was the ex’s childhood home. I believe he was just trying to plan ahead and wanting to do something for his children and grand children.

I believe the debt mounted up in 2018 after the sale of the house. How?, I don’t know.

RattyIrk

As solicitor advice has been sought it may have already been covered but when a property is transferred at undervalue it is quite common for legal indemnity insurance to be put in place to cover against insolvency in the following five years as a transfer can potentially be overturned in that period. It is worth seeing whether that was taken out when the property was transferred.

The OR has enough on the face of it to get their teeth into it. However to enforce it they would have to spend money going to court and then be successful. A person is entitled to gift assets when they are solvent. The chances of success are dependent on the OR showing he was insolvent at the time of transfer of made the transfer knowing insolvency was coming as a result and it was a device to put the asset out of reach.

Practically whether the OR will take the matter to court will depend on how confident they feel about their chances. Based on what little information is in this thread I suspect what they will be hoping for is a deal will be done and lots of posturing in the lead up to that.

RUN_DMC

Thanks. This has been useful. Very much appreciated.

silvercar

Any reason why the daughter couldn’t take a secured loan or mortgage on the property to raise enough money to pay off the OR?

JCS1

Is it the OR or a Trustee dealing with the case? I suspect given the values it may gone to an Insolvency Practitioner to deal with.

Thrugelmir

RUN_DMC wrote: »

I believe the debt mounted up in 2018 after the sale of the house. How?, I don’t know.

The FL's actions would appear premeditated. As often is the case people trip up when trying to be too clever. The fact that he has remained in the property paying no rent merely reinforces the point.

Minkym00

My thoughts too JCS1. Given the OP has said the letter has come from a “debt solicitor” and not the OR I would think that he means the IP that has been given appointed to deal with the antecedent recovery. As such they are in it for their fees and will push this to court if necessary. If you push back with an IP all you’re effectively doing is pushing up their fees.

It doesn’t matter if the bankrupt was solvent when the transfer was made, it was made to a connected party which means it can be reversed. (Connected parties means transactions up to 5 years prior to bankruptcy can be reversed, its 2 years for unconnected parties).

However there is no misconduct if the transfer was made when the bankrupt was solvent so he wouldn’t be investigated for a bankruptcy restrictions order.

RUN_DMC

Hi all, it’s a trustee. The insolvency people have asked him to call them and explain his actions but yes a debt recovery solicitor is asking for the money. The ex has now appointed a solicitor. Even though he sold us the house he wanted to continue to live in it and we don’t have a problem with that. I’m paying the mortgage so how will this affect me? The ex is on benefits and doesn’t work many hours due to child care and I don’t have a great job at the moment and pay what I can to her for the children and pay the mortgage.

silvercar

Debt recovery solicitor on behalf of the OR or on behalf of the creditor? As a bankrupt the creditor can’t chase for the debt.

You are paying the mortgage on a property owned by your ex and lived in by your ex father in law?? Why? Your short of cash and paying maintenance to your ex for the kids and paying a mortgage for a property you don’t live in or benefit from?