Let us say that a creditor has a county court judgment against you and that you cannot pay the debt and that you have been unable to reach agreement with the creditor to pay it off over time.
(more…)In the UK the cost of petitioning for your own bankruptcy is very cheap compared to other jurisdictions and even compared to some of the other insolvency solutions in the UK. The main reason for this is that you can do it yourself at a cost of about £600. The cost is a little less in Northern Ireland.
(more…)It can be very hard for the insolvent debtor to choose the best option when faced with a choice of entering an IVA or petitioning for bankruptcy. One approach is to weigh up the pros and cons of each solution from one’s own perspective, bearing in mind that the other interested parties, particularly creditors, may have a different view of the matter. Following are the principal pros and cons of both options looked at not just from the perspective of the insolvent debtor but also from the perspective of creditors, the state and the insolvency practitioner.
(more…)Discharge from bankruptcy in the UK (England, Wales and Northern Ireland) is automatic after one year, in most cases. ‘Discharge’ means that you are no longer a ‘bankrupt’ person one year after your bankruptcy commenced. A typical exception would be for example a person who was made bankrupt for a second time, where the discharge period could be longer than one year.
(more…)People who are considering petitioning for their own bankruptcy are sometimes concerned that they will lose everything they own. This is not the case. Items such as books, dvds, plants, cutlery, crockery, stereo and such normal household artifacts are of no interest to the trustee in bankruptcy and the bankrupt will be allowed to retain these and all such normal items.
(more…)In a word, no! We are talking here about renting a private residence from a landlord. Such arrangements are normally documented in a written rental agreement which is freely entered into and signed by both parties – the landlord and the tenant and is in accordance with the law.
(more…)Persons who declare bankruptcy after 1st December 2010 face having to pay more of their disposable income to their trustee than before.
(more…)Many people bought property before and during the boom expecting that by increasing equity over a period of years they would get a better return than they would otherwise. The plan was to buy a property at a reasonable price, let it out for a few years, sell it on and pocket the profits. Hence the boom extended to what became known as the ‘Buy to Let’ sector.
(more…)Bankruptcy in the UK can end in twelve months and usually does.
The UK has an array of insolvency procedures that enable a debtor to avoid bankruptcy. These include Individual Voluntary Arrangements (debts over £15,000) and Debt Relief Orders (debts of less than £15,000).
(more…)Judging by the latest list of bankruptcy petitions, 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. And that’s only because there are so few, if any, of them left. Students, unemployed persons and those who are retired have not escaped either.
(more…)Time and money are two key resources in any successful business. They encompass and conjure up ideas of costs, budgets, productivity, deadlines, profitability investment and so on. The list is endless. The analogy with bankruptcy or rather the legislation dealing with bankruptcy in Ireland springs to mind.
(more…)It looks like the term of yet another Fianna Fail led coalition government in Ireland will have passed without the passage of any legislation to address the issues of personal insolvency. While the Law Reform Commission (LRC) has carried out Trojan work on the issues of personal debt, culminating in the publication of consultation papers, interim reports and recommendations for legislation, it appears that the current government has neither the will nor the energy to enact the necessary laws.
(more…)When debts get to the point where bankruptcy is a real option, it’s vitally important that you make a decision that will be best for you in both the long and short term. Individual Voluntary Arrangements are frequently used to avoid bankruptcy, but are only useful in a certain set of circumstances.
(more…)You would only consider bankruptcy if you were insolvent so let’s assume that you are. There are alternatives to bankruptcy such as an IVA but let’s just consider bankruptcy as a possible solution for you by looking at the pros and cons.
(more…)From the debtor’s point of view the attraction of BCY (Bankruptcy) is that in a relatively short period of time all debts can be dealt with and creditors removed from one’s back, so to speak. This is not the case in a DMP (Debt Management Plan), where there is little or no prospect of light at the end of the debt tunnel and creditors are not going to go away any time soon.
Bankrupt debtors will be discharged from bankruptcy in one year although they may have to make payments to creditors via an income payments order controlled by their trustee for up to three years.
Not so in a DMP. Creditors do not write off any debt and indeed some creditors may continue to charge interest and penalties with no freeze on the total debt. The voluntary nature of a DMP is such that neither debtor nor creditors feel bound by its terms. Thus a DMP can last for many years.
The contrast between the UK and Ireland in dealing with personal debt problems is quite remarkable. The most startling contrast is perhaps the difference in the bankruptcy legislation.
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