I was wondeting if you would be able to give me some advice on bankruptcy. My partner is about to go bankrupt as he has been advised it is the best course of action for him. I am more than happy with this and have been helping him with all his paperwork and completing the application form. We have only been together since March of this year and all the debts were incurred whilst he was married to his ex-wife. When we started living together, as I own the house, we made sure everything was in order so set up a lodger agreement etc so we both knew where we stood.
However, I have read that the contributions he can make towards his bankruptcy after the order is made will be dependent on the whole households income as we are living together. This has obviously distressed me as we have only been together a short time and all the debts incurred were way before I met him. I am in a fairly good job (£23k) and after all the bills etc have an excess of approx. £300 which I use towards home improvements or savings. Obviously therefore I do not want my extra earnings to go towards his bankruptcy. He is self employed and with business being a bit slow the last year or so he can afford the essentials but would not have any excess money to contribute after the order.
Where do I stand with this?
also, one more question - when filling out the statement of affairs (as im doing alot of it for him) do i put the total household outgoings in the outgoings section then add my contriubution in the next section where it asks other contributions from members of the household? or do we just list his 'half' of the household outgoings and put '0' in the contribution from other household members.
This is tricky. Ideally, it would be better if only one of you was earning money during your partner's bankruptcy. That way there would be only one income to be assessed. Is it impossible to live on only one income? As you are not married it might be possible not to state that your partner is your partner and that he is simply your lodger. At least until his bankruptcy is discharged. It would be better for you to be 'separated' for the duration of his bankruptcy. I think he will be in line for an income based IPA/IPO if there are two incomes showing on the form.
My advice is that you should not be a couple whilst he is BR (undischarged) and that you sohuld merely be his landlord (you don't need to name the landlord in a tenancy in the bankruptcy. It sounds like you are not certain to be together on a permanent basis due to you saying he is signing a tenancy of some sort. I think this advice is reasonable as you are not married and have only just got together. It complicates things by him declaring that you are contributing to household expenditure. Another person on here may be able to advise you also. I think he should put zero for other sources of income.
Thanks for that - that is something we thought may be required. the only thing is we have a joint life insurance policy together - would it therefore be advisable to cancel this for the time of the bankruptcy (i.e. 12 months - hopefully).
yes, it would create a link having a joint life insurance policy. it should be cancelled. besides, life insurance is not an allowable expense in bankruptcy.
please see the insolvency service website for details of allowable and not allowed expenses.
advice on bankruptcy
Posted - 13 November 2008 : 12:35:31
