Our previous article was entitled ‘How to go Bankrupt’. This article looks at the aftermath of becoming bankrupt. After the court makes a Bankruptcy Order against a debtor, the Official Receiver immediately takes over the responsibility for administering the bankruptcy including the task of protecting the bankrupt’s assets. The Official Receiver is a civil servant in The Insolvency Service and is an officer of the court and acts as the bankrupt’s trustee unless the court appoints an Insolvency Practitioner (IP) to take that role.
(more…)If you want to find out more about how to go Bankrupt, then read this article detailing a more in-depth view on Bankruptcy. This article is written in a simple format with the key steps in going bankrupt in England and Wales explained with links to sources of additional and more detailed information, provided for those who wish to look into the matter more deeply.
(more…)Did you know that there are now 27 nations in the European Union (EU) every single one using their particular personal insolvency legislation? The mind boggles at the quantity, assortment and complexities of laws and regulations which this situation must contain. The EU of course wants to harmonise legislation including bankruptcy laws throughout member nations as one of its objectives. Right up until such harmonisation is attained, citizens of member nations of the EU may legally attempt to overcome their own personal personal bankruptcy and attempt to utilise a resolution inside a member nation which is most favourable for their condition.
(more…)If there is one comforting thought for someone who is contemplating bankruptcy, it is to think about the many famous and even infamous people who became bankrupt at one time or another or even repeatedly over the course of their lives. Some of these people had already achieved fame or infamy for their accomplishments before they were adjudged bankrupt. Others of them became famous after they had endured the stigma of bankruptcy and were able to make a fresh start in their lives.
(more…)It is an unenviable dilemma to be in whenever an insolvent individual is facing a decision as to whether to petition for bankruptcy or go into an Individual Voluntary Arrangement (an IVA). A principal concern is whether one has a property or not. It is likely that one will lose their property in bankruptcy and be able to continue to keep it in an IVA. A key issue is whether there’s realisable value in the property or not. In any case it is a good idea to list the positives and negatives of the two choices and get guidance from a professional insolvency expert in advance of a final choice. The two alternatives need to be checked out and this short article summarises the positives and negatives. The insolvent person in debt should determine which points are important for them.
(more…)If a creditor is worried that an unsecured debt is not being repaid by a particular debtor as it falls due, one option that the creditor may consider is to seek to change the nature or status of the debt from being unsecured to being secured. In other words the creditor may take legal steps to have a lawful claim on the debtor’s assets up to the value of the unpaid and unsecured debt. This process involves asking the Court to make a Charging Order against the debtor’s property. Such property is frequently the debtor’s home but it could be any of the debtor’s assets.
(more…)Let’s face it. If in this day and age you want a structured way out of your personal insolvency in the UK, one that is tightly controlled by laws and regulations, you will probably have to utilize one of the big two solutions, bankruptcy or an individual voluntary arrangement (IVA).
(more…)In trying to deal with personal insolvency it is almost inevitable that the debtor will have to consider the two principal solutions available in the U&K, namely entering into an Individual Voluntary Arrangement (IVA) or petitioning for Bankruptcy.
(more…)Justice Minister Alan Shatter recently revealed the specifics of the Civil Law (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill which is going to provide the consequence of reducing the term of bankruptcy in Ireland. Bankrupts according to the proposed new law will ‘enjoy’ guaranteed release from bankruptcy after twelve years but will be legally permitted to make an application for release from bankruptcy after five years.
(more…)All through the real-estate boom which preceded the current recession men and women in britain started to dip their toes in the property market in the expectation of increasing equity over a period of five to ten years in the hope and expectation that this probably would let them have a really good yield on their funds.
(more…)It seems that Northern Ireland leads the way when compared to other regions of the UK in the level of personal debt problems encountered by its citizens, according to a report issued by a national debt charity, the Consumer Credit Counselling Service (CCCS).
(more…)There are some companies which target people in up and running IVAs and try to persuade them that they should have gone bankrupt in the first place and that it is not too late to do so. These companies often get their list of potential clients from the IVA register and contact them by mail-shot. They may even imply that the original advice (to offer an IVA to creditors) was the wrong advice and debtors are told that the IVA may have been ‘missold’ to them. The OFT has issued warnings to some of these companies which promote bankruptcy to debtors who are already in IVAs and may charge large fees for their services if the debtor decides to use them.
(more…)The key question facing the insolvent debtor is whether to enter into an IVA or to petition for bankruptcy. If the debtor has consulted with an Insolvency Practitioner (IP), both options will have been spelt out clearly as well as any other available options. While the IP’s preferred option is often clear it remains the debtor’s decision as to which option to choose. Strangely, some debtors choose to enter an IVA when bankruptcy is clearly a better option in their circumstances and other debtors choose to go the bankruptcy route when an IVA is clearly a better option.
(more…)Figures just released by the Insolvency Service show that the swing away from Bankruptcies to other insolvency solutions continued in the fourth quarter of 2010 (Q4 2010). Not since the first quarter of 2005 have the figures for bankruptcies in England and Wales been so low.
(more…)A creditor may seek to have the Court issue a Charging Order against a debtor’s house, land or other property so that an unsecured debt may be turned into a secured debt via a charge on the debtor’s property.
(more…)Bankruptcy is a legal procedure whereby an insolvent individual may address the fact that he or she is unable to pay their debts. Through this procedure, the debtor can have his or her debts fully or partially written off within a finite period of time. A creditor may petition the court for the debtor’s bankruptcy or the debtor may petition the court for their own bankruptcy. The cost of initiating this procedure is currently about £600 in England, Wales and Northern Ireland.
(more…)The Insolvency Service which administers and investigates the affairs of bankrupt persons has issued two new guidelines summarising changes in policy which will make bankruptcy a much less attractive option for insolvent persons in the future.
(more…)If the new Irish government – widely expected to be a coalition of the Fine Gael and Labour parties – implement the recommendations of the Law Reform Commission (LRC) in relation to personal debt (Personal Debt Management and Debt Enforcement report published in December 2010) they will also have to very quickly address the draconian and utterly out of date Bankruptcy Act 1988.
(more…)It would be an exaggeration to claim that Bankruptcy is more popular than ever. One only has to consider the pain that bankrupt persons must endure in terms of stigma, loss of credit facilities and loss of property, including family homes. Nevertheless, judging by the latest list of bankruptcy orders, it seems that in Northern Ireland almost every occupation, trade & profession has been adversely affected by the recession with the possible exception of the candlestick maker. Students, unemployed persons and those who are retired have not escaped either.
(more…)A significant policy change in the way that the Official Receiver (OR) deals with a bankrupt’s interest in the family home is being rolled out. Hitherto, where there was little or no equity in the property, the OR was quite amenable to disposing of the bankrupt’s interest by accepting a nominal sum (often just £1) plus transaction costs (a few hundred pounds) from the bankrupt’s spouse or family or a friendly third party and so enabling the property to be re-vested in the bankrupt.
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