Bankrupcy/ Charging Orders etc etc Help!

[40something]

Hi. Having read and read and read hundreds of posts on these forums (and acted on quite a few too!), I have finally come to the point where I feel my own post would hopefully give me some suggestions/ answers and possibly help others too.

My situation is this: I have unsecured debt of about 70K accumulated over several years but serviced well until a series of redundancies from high paid IT jobs culminated in the last 2 yrs being generally unemployed and job seeking. I am trying to get back on my feet, so to speak, but these debts are not going away and the pressure from creditors is getting dangerously unbearable.

I see a 'good' option here is the Bankrupcy route, as I have no real assets, but jointly own my home with my wife, with an equity of approx 10K only.

We can jointly cover the mortgage and it is absolubtly imperative that we keep our home, so my questions start...

A couple of my creditors have started Charging Order processes, the main one being A+L for an unsecured loan of 18K. I did go to court to challenge the initial attempt this week but the judge merely dismissed my income/ expenditure lists and ANY offer of payments (even for the original monthly amount) which I found really unfair and unexpected. He just stated that unless I could repay the entire amount within 12 months (yeah right) he would recommend a Charging Order and suggested that I shouldn't even 'bother turning up' at the next hearing date because he would not oppose it!!!.. remarkable. Anyway this brings me to some questions.. re: Charging Order - can I appose this due to not enough equity/ other creditors etc..?... I still find it incredible that these Charging Orders are gaining 'popularity' with creditors... I always though that an UNSECURED Debt was just that (ie You pay a higher rate BUT DONT risk your home?... There must be some arguments for them taking this route... surely?)

IF I apply for Bankrupcy BEFORE any Charging Orders are made final, would these debts be included in the Bankruptcy and therefore not be secured on my home?

OR would it be indeed 'beneficial' for these Charging Orders to go ahead therefore reducing any equity to negative and therefore potentially allowing my wife to buy my Beneficial Interest for the nominal £1, therefore protecting the house?

I also have a few debts relating to outstanding electric (2k) and Council Tax for about 1k.. would these be included also?

I cannot see any other option going forward and would welcome some way of 'starting again' but without the added stress of worrying about the security of my home (Oh by the way I also have 4 yr old twins and 11 and 13 yr olds)

ANY advice would be incredibly appreciated!. Many many thanks in advance

[rory32]

I would recommend you have a read here and the publications here regarding bankruptcy.

IF I apply for Bankrupcy BEFORE any Charging Orders are made final, would these debts be included in the Bankruptcy and therefore not be secured on my home?

If the bankruptcy order is granted before the hearing for the final charging order then the debts would be included in your bankruptcy and not secured as a charge on your home.

OR would it be indeed 'beneficial' for these Charging Orders to go ahead therefore reducing any equity to negative and therefore potentially allowing my wife to buy my Beneficial Interest for the nominal £1, therefore protecting the house?

Realistically with so little equity probably only one creditor is going to get a charge on your property.

I also have a few debts relating to outstanding electric (2k) and Council Tax for about 1k.. would these be included also?

As far as I'm aware, yes they would.

I cannot see any other option going forward and would welcome some way of 'starting again' but without the added stress of worrying about the security of my home (Oh by the way I also have 4 yr old twins and 11 and 13 yr olds)

Sale orders after a charging order being granted are very rare. If you have children and it's the family home with not a lot of equity in it the creditor can realistically forget about it.