bankruptcy

jesmin45 · 17 September 2018 at 3:21PM

Someone who owed me money (£40k) unsecured declared himself bankrupt. A trustee in bankruptcy is involved. This has been going on over a year and I got my annual report from them today. The investigation is still going on but he has been discharged. How does that work? The Trustee is still waiting o/s information from him despite requesting this 3 times. They are querying transactions totalling £30k and as yet have still not received the requested bank statements showing what this was for. I am pretty sure he has been 'getting rid' of money to one of his siblings. Also there is property in Canada which conveniently he transferred to his now ex wife (convenient) as a nil value. She is saying the reason being is she paid for flights to Canada, refurbishment, furnishings etc. They requested some info from the ex wife and she told them when the property was transferred to her it was worth 45k Canadian Dollars, when in fact I have proof from the Canadian Land Reg it was worth 75k Canadian Dollars which I shall be giving this info to the Trustee. What happens if he is found to be lying to the bankruptcy people and if indeed he has 'given money away'. He also was married for 10 years and lived together for longer than this. The house was his exes before he met her and is unencumbered. Can the trustee not raise the question that there is a beneficial interest in that property. All this happened in 2015 - divorce, transfer of property, bankruptcy!
Not only does he owe me £40k, the trustee in bankruptcy says there bill is £30k for who pays for that if he has no money?

National_Debtline · 17 September 2018 at 4:20PM

Hi jesmin45

It is possible for the trustee to postpone someone's discharge from bankruptcy if they feel they are not cooperating but it doesn't seem they felt it was necessary in this case. The trustee still has 3 years from the start of the bankruptcy to deal with any assets of the bankrupt.

The trustee can consider assets abroad and in some cases may be able to make a claim on them, but it can make the situation more complicated. The trustee will also have to consider whether they accept the bankrupt has no interest in the property.

When someone is dishonest, or gives assets away to avoid them being taken in bankruptcy (called a transaction at undervalue), this can lead to a bankruptcy restriction order. This means the usual bankruptcy restrictions are extended for between 2 to 15 years depending on how serious the issues are. In extreme cases committal proceedings could be considered where someone has ignored a court order and is in contempt of court.

Ultimately if there are not enough assets to sell to pay off the debts, and any monthly payments taken do not cover the amount owed, the debt will not be paid back.

Best wishes

Susie
@natdebtline

bankruptcy

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