{"id":11200,"date":"2011-03-15T16:11:00","date_gmt":"2011-03-15T16:11:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nationaldebtrelief.co.uk\/debt-articles\/?p=11200"},"modified":"2019-08-07T16:13:19","modified_gmt":"2019-08-07T15:13:19","slug":"write-off-personal-debt","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nationaldebtrelief.co.uk\/debt-articles\/write-off-personal-debt\/","title":{"rendered":"Write off personal debt"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Many citizens of member states of the European Union (EU) are \nblissfully unaware of certain unexpected benefits that EU membership \nconveys in relation to personal insolvency. These benefits are rooted in\n the principle of the free movement of labour for EU citizens within the\n EU and are particularly relevant for those who find themselves \noverburdened by debt and threatened with aggressive insolvency \nproceedings in certain member states of the EU.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

It is well known that there are huge differences in insolvency \nlegislation between different member countries. The UK is often held up \nas a shining beacon of enlightenment insofar as it has evolved a \ncomprehensive body of personal insolvency law providing the insolvent \ncitizen with a variety of options and solutions which are neither \ndraconian nor punitive but which recognize the citizen\u2019s right to a \nsecond chance \u2013 a fresh start in fact. Compared to some other member \nstates the UK system is particularly attractive. In the UK insolvent \ndebtors can get the opportunity to rehabilitate themselves, whereas in \ncertain other EU member states the prevailing legislative and social \nculture tends to seek to punish the insolvent debtor. What are these \nunexpected benefits?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"write<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

European regulations permit the insolvency legislation of one member \nstate to apply in another subject to certain provisos. One of the \nfeatures of cross-border insolvency is that debtors may seek to open \nproceedings in another state of the EU which has insolvency legislation \nmore favourable to their particular circumstances than they could hope \nto attain in their own \u2018home\u2019 jurisdiction. This phenomenon is sometimes\n referred to as \u201cforum shopping\u201d. The result is that a debtor who lives \nin any member state may be able to put forward an Individual Voluntary \nArrangement (IVA) or petition for bankruptcy or indeed pursue some other\n legal solution to their debt problems in the UK \u2013 provided that the UK \nis their \u201ccentre of main interests\u201d. The definition of the term \u201ccentre \nof main interests\u201d or COMI is of course key to the matter.  There is no \ndefinition of COMI except that the relevant EU Regulation states that \u201cthe\n centre of main interests should correspond to the place where the \ndebtor conducts the administration of his interests on a regular basis \nand is therefore ascertainable by third parties\u201d. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The usual interpretation of this is that the COMI will be the country\n where the debtor mainly carries out their trade, profession or \nself-employment. Where the debtor does not trade or carry on a \nprofession, the COMI is usually considered to be the country where he or\n she resides. If the debtor resides in one country and trades in \nanother, the COMI is the country where the debtor trades. Where the \nperson\u2019s only connection with a country is that they work there on a non\n self-employed basis (perhaps, commuting from a neighbouring country), \nthen the COMI will generally be in the country in which they live and \nconsequently pay bills, operate a bank account, purchase goods and so \non. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the event of bankruptcy proceedings, the COMI is determined at the\n date the petition is presented and not where, historically, the \nrelevant activity was carried out. Therefore the location of creditors \nand the country in which debts were incurred are not material issues in \ndetermining a COMI. Interestingly, although not relevant to personal \ninsolvency is that in the case of a company, the COMI is the registered \noffice, in the absence of proof to the contrary.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What about an IVA? To take an example: a serving member of the Armed \nForces who is serving abroad and who may be stationed abroad for long \nperiods may enter into an IVA in the UK. The same may apply to anybody \nwho is for example working in an EU member state but whose assets are \nlocated in the UK. Similarly, anybody who works in the merchant navy may\n enter into an IVA, even though they may be abroad for much of their \nworking lives, provided their \u201ccentre of main interests\u201d is in the UK. \nObviously there are many different scenarios which may impact on the \ndebtor\u2019s capacity to comply with the terms of an IVA. These could \ninclude assets held or acquired abroad or the likelihood of incurring \ndebts abroad during or just prior to the term of the proposed IVA. \nNevertheless, creditors will generally approve such an IVA provided they\n are satisfied with the debtor\u2019s capacity to comply with the terms. It \nshould be noted that an IVA in the UK is limited to England, Wales and \nNorthern Ireland. For Scotland the broadly equivalent insolvency \nsolution is a Trust Deed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Many citizens of member states of the European Union (EU) are blissfully unaware of certain unexpected benefits that EU membership conveys in relation to personal insolvency. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"none","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11200","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general-debt-articles"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nationaldebtrelief.co.uk\/debt-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11200","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nationaldebtrelief.co.uk\/debt-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nationaldebtrelief.co.uk\/debt-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nationaldebtrelief.co.uk\/debt-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nationaldebtrelief.co.uk\/debt-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11200"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.nationaldebtrelief.co.uk\/debt-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11200\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11206,"href":"https:\/\/www.nationaldebtrelief.co.uk\/debt-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11200\/revisions\/11206"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nationaldebtrelief.co.uk\/debt-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11200"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nationaldebtrelief.co.uk\/debt-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11200"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nationaldebtrelief.co.uk\/debt-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11200"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}