help please-desperate after OR interview!

chrissyxx

Son has just had his OR interview, and it was a disaster! We are all feeling even more despondent and worried than ever!
Son is living with us, as he cant afford to rent, and pays us £200 pm rent. He works as a barman, and has care of his one year old son during the week. He earns between £600-£750 pm max.
He still pays his ex £140 pm maintenance (used to be £220!) First of all, OR expressed disapproval that this payment wasnt done through a solicitor or CSA!!!!! (so much for amicable arrangements!) but eventually agreed to write to his ex for confirmation, but didnt seem very inclined to do that!
Son had claimed £100 a month housekeeping, to cover buying his own food, nappies, clothes and baby food. OR discounted that from his outgoings, saying it should be included in the £200 pm month rent!!!
He works locally, but has to travel 15 miles each way 2-3 days a week to collect and drop off the baby back at his mums, as she works shifts. He put down £80 pm for petrol (bare minimum!) and this was also totally discounted by the OR as it wasnt for work purposes! Thats £180 pm that he HAS to find, but that the OR discounted from outgoings! (also discounted £20 pm phone etc!) Upshot is, that he was told he will probably have to pay £162 pm to OR for next 3 years!!!!!!!! Totally laughable if it wasnt impossible! He tried paying £50 back to bank a while back, and couldnt even afford that, hence the difficult decision to go bankrupt. He is in a far worse financial mess after going bankrupt! He didnt enjoy making this decision, rarely goes out or buys anything unless its for his son. Where on earth do we go from here? We are totally at wits end. Only way out is for us to pay it for him, and we cant afford it either. Can anyone advise us please? We are sick with worry!

winnie81

I am really sorry to hear this I have no advice I am afraid but I didn't want to read and run :grouphug:

Claire x

dalip

Hi I may not be much help either but i think you can appeal against the OR. I am sure i have read that either the court decides if the OR has been fair or you can complain against the OR and another will be appointed to your son.Somebody with more knowledge will be along soon so don't fret to much, i know that's easier said than done. Dalip

tigerfeet2006

Hi Chrissy you seem to have posted this twice.

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=688817

chrissyxx

I did realise Id posted twice, and tried to delete the other thread but failed miserably! Apologies!

NekoZombie

Unfortunately (and this is what I was trying to point out in another thread) the OR can reasonably expect outgoings to be lower when the bankrupt is living at home. It does sound like a tough OR, though, so there should be room for negotiation.

Unfortunately, it is the OR's job to maximise return for the creditors. In this respect, the OR is merely doing his job. Did your son claim for clothing, prescriptions, dental, education, holiday allowance? These are all allowable. If you are willing to put up your sons I & E we can possibly re-work it for you and try to get some money back.

EDIT - Just wanted to also point out that although bankrupt, your son has a right to more than the basic standard of living. This is meant to be a fresh start, and I think that ORs sometime need to be reminded of this.

mclachlan4321

I agree. You are able to appeal the I&E decision, but also make sure you put as many things in it as possible, such as holidays, child care costs, dental, contingency fund, I was even allowed to claim for my dog food.

ORs do vary from region to region, another forum has been looking into how widely it does vary.

At the end of the day, the OR is there to maximise return to creditors, but they are also expected to be fair. If he cant actually afford it, then the IPA will fail after a few months, so it is in everyones interest to get it right.

chrissyxx

Hi. Thank you so much to all those who have taken the trouble to reply.
I wish we'd found this forum BEFORE the forms were submitted! I'm not sure how to paste the I&E, so will do a brief precis!
Rent £200 pm
Housekeeping £100pm (he buys his own and baby's food , nappies, milk for baby etc..and that's bare minimum!) This was discounted by OR!!!!
Telephone charges (mobile mostly) £50 (also discounted)
Travelling costs £80 pm (baby's mum lives 16 miles away and he makes that journey at least 2-3 times a week to pick up and drop baby off) Discounted by OR as non essential!!!
Maintenance for baby £150 pm.

Income varies between £600 and £750 max pm, but usually around £640

Didnt include any clothing, holiday, dentists, prescriptions or food and insurance for cat! (we usually end up paying that!)Is it too late? Debtline have suggested we send a letter in straight away saying that he doesnt agree with what was proposed and include a revised budget sheet. Will do that and include the things you suggested. Am so grateful for everyones advice and support. Thank you all

betterlatethannever

Great,
Another suggestion might be to get a letter from the babies mother saying that unless the baby is picked up/dropped off then she will be unable to work herself, she could also include a note about the amount of maintenance she recieves.-this is assuming shes on talking terms with you son.

G-G_4

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=678269

This is my post with relation to what I can claim when I do my I&E.. hope it gives you a few ideas.. it hasn't been run past the OR yet as I havn't got my job yet..

x

lindsaygalaxy

There are a few things that will effect the Incoe and expenditure.

Who gets the tax credits. As your son looks after the child the majority of the week i presume he does? If he doesnt, and the mother does, with him paying child maintanance as well to the mother, even though he has most of the costs, i can see why the OP thought this was unfair.

If it is your son, im guessing he gets working tax credits so would get free prescriptions/dental care?

Im not sure where you stand with adding costs in such as clothes for the baby as the OP may say this is included in the maintanance.

From what i know he can include the following costs -

£30 each for clothing
£40 for a holiday
£20 a week for travelling costs do not seem unreasonable. I work 5 minutes away and the short runs from home-nursery-work-nursery-home really drinks the petrol.

I would defiently put in a revised budget asap. I expect why the OP got stroppy is the £200 rent (though i think £50 week isnt much) i would put /council tax, and then housekeeping is because of the maintance he then pays the babies mother while he has the baby all week. Surely the amount it costs him during the week to look after his son evens out them paying the same?

£100 housekeeping seems low for me. I would put seperatly child costs - they may not allow it, but who knows.