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We have finally reached the point where we can go bankrupt, just about sold everything we can to get the money for my husband and I to go bankrupt so just trawling through all the forms on the insolvency website.
Just a few questions:
The things that we have sold to get the money to go bankrupt i assume is a good enough reason for selling them i.e my husbands work van?
What is classed as an asset? I can't see anywhere on the forms where it suggests what kind of value you consider something an asset - not that we have a lot i just dont want to get into trouble?
Part of the reason we have reached this point is because my husbands property maintenance business has died a death and he has taken a job for now working nights in a hotel until things may pick up again. Do we need to list his tools as assets and how do we do it ie just an average value for the whole lot or individually?
Any advice for form filling would be greatly appreciated
Thankyou
I have just been declared bankrupt (after a long time putting it off) and completed the forms online so I hope I can help. I have also had a lot of advice from the CCCS and best of all the Official Receiver's helpline - they are very good and very helpful, better than the CCCS. The court where you would file for BR should give you the number, or the number they gave me was 0845 602 9848.
The things that we have sold to get the money to go bankrupt i assume is a good enough reason for selling them i.e my husbands work van?
From the advice I was given it's absolutely fine to do this. The CCCS even said I could use any excess money towards essential items for the home, e.g. new washing machine, carpets etc. as long as it's sensible, reasonable expenses and justifiable towards general living costs. However, you may need to check the details with the OR Helpline if the van is an asset of the business. Should still be okay but it's worth checking, especially if it's a limited company?
As far as personal assets go they are really only interested in anything of significant value, fancy car, expensive jewellery (not a £100 watch). They are not interested in furniture, clothing, books, or indeed anything in your house unless it's very valuable. They also don't come to your house and take your possessions any more.
As a mater of fact the whole thing is very straightforward and very civilised. When I went to court I didn't even see a Judge. Paid my fee, waited a couple of hours and was eventually given the BR form and 1 copy of the paperwork. That was it. The next stage is an interview with the receiver and that's usually done by phone if the debt is under £60k or face-to-face if more than £60k.
As far as listing tools of your trade, you would need to speak to the OR helpline about that. Normally you'd be allowed to keep them, however you say your husband is working in a job where the tools are not required, so I couldn't advise on that.
When filling out the forms online make sure your monthly expenditure is a reasonably accurate account of what you actually spend, or need to spend. However they don't expect it to be 100% exact. Also you can use estimated figures for some things, like say road tax - divide the annual cost by 12 and put that down. Same goes for car maintenance etc.
Overall the best advice will be from the OR helpline but I hope this has helped too.
Personally I found the whole process very straightforward, a lot less stressful than I thought it would be, and the best thing I've done in a long time. Plus I'm completely debt free for the first time since I started working. Then again I don't own my house or have a mortgage, and Black Horse have already taken the fancy car away, so I'd nothing left to lose - except a load of debt!
HI I know it was a while ago you posted your reply but hope you still get told if people have replied to it!
Anyway my husband and I are currently saving our money to get the fees for bankruptcy. We are nearly there. However we are concerned and confused as to what to do next. We have had companies who are willing to do the paperwork for us but charge up to £500! We want to know if this is needed.
I'm sure we could manage the forms but I am really worried about the bank account and things like that. Gas and electric and my husbands work etc. How did you get help with things like that? I'm worried that we will get in a mess with things like our direct debits and rent standing order plus my husbands wages paid into our account etc.
I would appreciate all help you have. We have enough saved £1100, but wonder if we need to save the extra £500 for someone to do it all for us.
Also I am worried sick about the court thing. I suffer from anxiety as it is and worry too much anyway so the day in court terrifies me!
Hope to hear from you soon,
Charlotte xx
It should answer most of the questions you have about BR.
You can even practise filling in the forms online. I dont think you need to pay anybody to do it. Have a read for a couple of days and come back with anything you are not sure about.
Im not an expert, but i am 10 months into my BR, so i hope i can help.
Hi. I wouldn't pay anyone to fill in the forms for you! £500 is a rip off. It's not difficult, the insolvency.gov.uk website provides the online form service for free and you can make as many changes you like before you submit it. You can also print it off, read it through, go back and edit it as many times as you like up to the point where you submit it. Even then if you've made a mistake (as I did) you can do it all again and submit a new one. Each one is given a unique ref. number and this is what you provide the court and receiver, so they use the correct one.
Even then if you've made a minor mistake (as I again did) you can score out the errors in pen and add the correct info. As long as you sign next to each change and make the same change to all the copies. The OR helpline is great for advice in completing the form and if you have any questions about any aspect of it please ask and I'll try to help. Don't throw away £500.
If you both go bankrupt at the same time it could cause problems with the gas, elec, phone and bank accounts. All your bank accounts will be closed, the gas and elec could ask for a prepay meter to be installed at the house, and the phone company could ask for their bills to be paid in advance.
We were advised to do it separately with a few weeks gap. Say you do it first. Phone the gas, elec and phone company and get everything put solely in your partners name. Your partner should also get or keep a bank account in their name only and everything should be paid into and out of this account. Once you've gone bankrupt go to the Co-op and open a cashminder account only in your name. You'll get a visa debit card, you can set up new standing orders, DD's etc. and even use online banking. You can then get all the income and outgoings dealt with from that account. Also phone the utility companies again and get everything put in your name only. This (seemingly) should avoid all the prepay meters etc. as they shouldn't need to be informed.
Note: This is only the advice I was given. I don't really know if they are informed anyway. So far we haven't had any problems, but then again I still haven't had the report from the OR (they are a bit behind) and my creditors still haven't been informed of my BR.
As your husband is working the OR will probably set up an Income Payment Arrangement so that any excess income is paid to your creditors for up to 3 years (or longer in some circumstances). I am on benefits and they can't touch any of that.
Your husband also needs to check his works policy on bankruptcy.
As for the day at court, I suppose each one is different, but there wasn't anything to worry about, just a lot of waiting about. From my experience it's all very civilised. Just a long boring day.
If your house is rented your landlord will be informed and most agreements have a clause about bankruptcy. You'd need to read it carefully and take advice on this. Is it private or via a letting agent?
Hope this helps. Any other questions feel free to ask.
Good luck
My husband and I went bankrupt in July together. I know how you feel i was really nervous but there was absolutely nothing to worry about, everybody was really nice and sympathetic. I would advise you ring the court and make an appointment for the earliest time they have available as if you are the first on the list it saves waiting around all day. Fill in yor forms on the insolvency website and then print 3 copies off each and take them with yo to court with your fee. Just check and double check them before submitting and include every bit of money that you owe.
All your bank accounts will be closed and we did have trouble getting a new one and were refused by Barclays and Halifax who are supposed to help but eventually got an account with Co op. Our gas/elec providers were not one of our creditors and have been none the wiser, we just moved the dd to our new account. We were able to pay our rent by cash each month and the insolvency said they would not inform our landlord as long as we could send them proof of our tenancy - BIG RELIEF! They were really really helpful as long as you are honest with them and they can see you are a genuine case they will try and help you. My husband is employed and not on a brilliant salary so they said they have an arrangement with the inland revenue to take the tax so his take home pay is no different!
Hope this helps, if you have any more questions just post away. I heard court takes a dim view of you paying people to fill in your forms as this money could be paid to your creditors. Anyway it is the best thing we have ever done and we can now move on with our life
samx
I am completing the forms for myself and my wife and need to know if our assets should be listed on both forms. For example, do we both list the car on our forms? Do we both list the premium bonds?
I'd say whatever is in one partners name you should list on their forms. Anything in joint names should be listed on both sets of forms.
Everything of any value will become part of your bankruptcy estate whatever happens, and will usually be taken off you. Not always though. Our car is worth about £1500 and they've never taken any interest in it because I said we need it for school runs etc. and the value is relatively low for them. They also let me keep my Life Insurance policy as it has no surrender value unless I snuff it.
The more straight you are with them the easier the process will be. Safer to declare things even if you later find out you didn't have to, than the other way round and risk complications.
I went bankrupt in June and I've just had a letter saying they are going to submit a court notice recommending early discharge, so the whole process can take less time than you think. The time since June has gone quite quickly. Hope this helps and good luck.
Help with Bankruptcy Forms
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