bankrupt company are saying I own this money

[cindy_b]

My friend had an iva his house was sold and he had no bank account so he asked his solicitor if the cheque could be made payable to me which he did and I gave him the monies out of my bank in the form of cash and a cheque made payable to someone else. He then failed his iva and was made bankrupt it now is that the iva and bankrupt company are saying I own this money its is for £65,000 where do I stand in this
Many thanks for your time Cindy

[jpj]

Sounds to me like your "friend" has pulled a fast one on you both (its practically money laundering)!! also if he was in an IVA there should have been a charge over the property to stop him selling it without the IVAs permission...If you can afford it I would go see a solicitor and get some advice as I think your going to have quite a bit of explaining to do!! (

[MelanieGiles]

This could be construed as money laundering, and you will need to prove that you handed the cash over to your friend. What evidence do you have of this? I feel the solicitor who acted for your friend may have some explaining to do as well. Not all IVA's with properties have notices of the IVA registered - in my experience less than 10%, so I can quite easily see how this could have happened. Legal advice is essential so that you can put your side of the story over.

Regards, Melanie Giles, Insolvency Practitioner for over 20 years.

For further details contact me at http://www.melaniegiles.com and view my IVA blog at: http://melaniegiles.blogs.iva.co.uk

[Adrian Ratcliffe]

Melanie,
I have a lot of respect for you but please look over your last post.
Your saying anyone who wanted to do a cash deal on a property (and sorry to say cindy fell for that 1)it is possible can't see it all companies take a charge on the property.
Cindy thought she had a good deal going, my question is where cindy got the cash from in the first place?

[catullus]

It's entirely possible that the equity, after dicharge of the mortgagee(s) and costs, was made payable to Cindy by the instructed solicitor, on the instructions of her friend.

She then paid the solicitors cheque in to her bank account and, on clearance, paid it out in the manner described.

The problem that Cindy has, in those circumstances, is proving (in the absence of a receipt) that the cash element of the onward transaction actually took place.

[Adrian Ratcliffe]

So the Sols paid all the monies including the concluding IVA amount into the same account and
only 10% of lenders know about an IVA on a property am I missing something ?
looks to me like cindy thought she was getting a house on the cheap and he sold it before the charge from the IVA company wen't on the property.
I have to hand it to him quicker than me

[MelanieGiles]

Adrian

Would you like to explain your last post to me!

This lady has acted as a go-between for the handling of a significant amount of money from the sale of a property.

I really do think it is you who are confused in this instance. Cindy clearly never had an interest in acquiring a property "on the cheap".

Regards, Melanie Giles, Insolvency Practitioner for over 20 years.

For further details contact me at http://www.melaniegiles.com and view my IVA blog at: http://melaniegiles.blogs.iva.co.uk

[cindy_b]

in my defence i only thought i was doing a friend a favor as he no longer had a bank account i was unaware at the time that the sale of his house was tied up in his iva it wasnt until some months after that he was make bankrupt - could anyone advise the worse that could happen to me

[catullus]

Before we get carried away with this, does your friend deny that they received the cash from you?

[jpj]

How was he paying his mortgage and bills if he didnt have a bank account??
where were his wages being paid into presuming he had a job??
Wouldnt surprise me if he did have an account but didnt want the money going through it !

Im sure you have proof you withdrew the cash for him from your account, but I bet you havent got proof you handed it over to him!?

You need to see a solicitor, with all the proof you have, and try and clear your name! only when they have seen all your proof can they tell you what the outcome of all this might be!!

JPJ

[cindy_b]

he's has long gone the problem i have is tracing him all this happened last year with the money i didnt know and the solicitor did not inform me that this was not allowed now as he has been make bankrupt they want the money from me as i was the payee on the cheque i think i could lose everything just by helping a friend - it dont seem fair a single mum having to pay someone elses dept

[cindy_b]

my so called friend entered an iva as his business went into trouble i worked for him at the time as a part time office worker - he sold his house and the money was held in the solicitor bank account his ex-wife and this friend wanted the money so it was split 50/50 to try and resolve their financial hearing as it was a very messy divorce i went to the solicitors off myself to collect the cheque which i banked 7 days later i withdrw 20 thousand in cash and a cheque made payable to someone else

[davo]

Hi Cindy

Surely if, as part of the payout to your friend (& I use that term loosely!)you wrote a cheque to a third party you have some form of proof that you passed the money on and did not benefit from it. Can you find details of the cheque you wrote to this third person?

[catullus]

All of this happened before your friend was made bankrupt?

That being so you should inform the trustee of the name of the person to whom you were asked to pay out a cheque from the proceeds, giving any further details such as address etc.

I would also suggest that you ask your bank to provide you with a copy of the cheque as evidence of the payment. This will give details of the bank in to which the cheque was paid which you can also provide to the Trustee.

Your problem is with the cash element of this transaction because you presumably do not have evidence that you handed the money over and its entirely possible that you could be considered to still have the money.

This is a legal matter and you must seek some legal advice about this.

[MelanieGiles]

Cindy

How much was the cash element of the transaction?

Regards, Melanie Giles, Insolvency Practitioner for over 20 years.

For further details contact me at http://www.melaniegiles.com and view my IVA blog at: http://melaniegiles.blogs.iva.co.uk