Is bankruptcy the right way for me

jac0410

Hello. I've got debts of around £9000 left by my ex husband. I have agreements with all the lenders to pay £1 per month. I'm never going to clear them and I'm concerned if anything happens to me, my daughter is left to pay them. Have been considering bankruptcy for some time as I really would like to be free of "his' debt. 

mwarby

Do you own your own home, or do you rent ? If you own than bankruptcy would probably involve repossession, if you don't then bankruptcy is an option.

A DRO maybe more suitable for you (again assuming you rent) although this depends on other assets (like car, antiques or expensive jewelery, but excluding normal household stuff like furniture, TV, laptop etc) being under £1k and your income being £50 or less than outgoings excluding bills

Debts wouldn't pass on to your daughter, although they may well reduce what she can inherit. Generally debts would be paid from your estate, and what is left is written off. The only reason you should be paying your late husbands debts if if they are secured against your home, or were joint debts

jac0410

The marital home was repossessed a number of years ago. I'm moving into a council property this week and I think as some point i would like to buy it. The debts were joint debts but in my name. Stupid I know. 

jac0410

I own my own car outright, no other assets

mwarby

Do you know what your car is worth in it's present condition ?

jac0410

About £1500

mwarby

£1500 is a little to high for a DRO, but its worth checking the car value. It could easily be that sites like webuyanycar say £1500 where it's true value is less (as it assumes perfect condition).

The problem with bankruptcy is going to be the £680 fee, if you can only afford £1 a month that's going to be difficult to find. One way might be to sell\downgrade car, but if you do that your as well to do that and used proceeds to pay down debt until your under the asset limit

A full soa from https://www.stoozing.com/soa.php would help. Bankruptcy would be viewed by some as drastic for £9k but this will depend on money available to repay the debts. In bankruptcy your budgeting has to be approved by the OR its very possible they would conclude that you have more money available than you think, this could lead to 3 years worth of repayments(which could be a really bad deal over an IPA). If your income is only benefits this would be safe

mwarby

Note your car is probably ok for bankruptcy limit, but you need to convince the OR that you need the car.If you can't it would be sold, this would impact your budget(youncan't claim for running cost like insurance and servicing) and may result in an IPA

fatbelly

With 9k of debt and only able to make token offers, having no assets apart from the car, you are in DRO territory with its £90 fee.

You cannot use WBAC to value your car but you can use the lower figure from Parkers Guide, which is a free valuation. If less than £1000 it's fine for a DRO.

So from what you've said, no I don't think bankruptcy is right, and that's probably why you've posted on the DRO thread.

If you want to post a soa we'll have a closer look to see if there might be any problems.