BR questions

[potless]

Hi all,

I declared bankrupt on 5th Feb this year.
I was appointed a trustee a few months ago to deal with my assets (flat and some shares from work).
I received a bonus from work at the start of this month and a 5% payrise. I notified the trustee by registered post around 25 days ago. I rang them last week to chase up if I get to keep any of the bonus or lose it all. Th woman said she would speak to her manager and send me a letter. I am still waiting. Does anyone know if they have a time limit in which to respond?

Additionally I am led to believe there is a bit of a grey area about what might happen to bonuses post discharge. Some people say you have to declare it, some people say you only have to declare it if asked and some people say it depends if you have an IPA or not. Does anyone know?

Thanks and would love some definitive answers on the above, I cant get them anywhere else.

[Adam Davies]

Hi potless
If you can wait until one of our insolvency practitioners responds then you should get an answer.
However regardless of the answer you get here it will be your trustee that has the difinitive one.
Regards

Andy Davie
IVA.co.uk Spokesperson

About me:
http://www.iva.co.uk/andy_davie_profile.asp

IVA Helpline: 0800 197 4838
http://www.iva.co.uk/iva_helpline.asp

[catullus]

Hello Potless

You should understand that IPO's/IPA's haven't actually been around for that long so some of the questions you ask it is difficult to give a definitive answer to and we already know from this board that different offices of the OR apply different policies to issues like what is allowable expenditure in arraiving at a figure for an IPA.

Looking at your post, however, it's not clear whether you are with a private firm or the OR but I'll give you the position that the OR applies.

If you have agreed to an IPA it will be for a specific time, normally three years, and lasts beyond your discharge.During that time, whether you have been discharged or not, you are under a duty to notify your Trustee of signicant changes to your earnings and will be required to pay in additional amounts that the Trustee reasonably expects you to pay.You will also be expected to provide regular evidence of earning throughout the period of the IPA.

At the time that the amount of your IPA was agreed the issue of bonuses and pay rises should have been raised and it should have been agreed what amount you should pay. I don't know what the OR's policy is but I would have thought that 50% was reasonable, that is what you would be required to pay in an IVA.

If you fail to make payments under an IPA then, at its worst, the Trustee can bankrupt you again if you have been discharged and if you are still in bankruptcy can oppose your automatic discharge so its as well to be strict in your dealings with your Trustee on this issue.

As to replying to post the OR has a policy of 15 working days and my own firm has a policy of 14 days so that should give you an idea.

[potless]

Hello Potless

You should understand that IPO's/IPA's haven't actually been around for that long so some of the questions you ask it is difficult to give a definitive answer to and we already know from this board that different offices of the OR apply different policies to issues like what is allowable expenditure in arraiving at a figure for an IPA.

Looking at your post, however, it's not clear whether you are with a private firm or the OR but I'll give you the position that the OR applies.

If you have agreed to an IPA it will be for a specific time, normally three years, and lasts beyond your discharge.During that time, whether you have been discharged or not, you are under a duty to notify your Trustee of signicant changes to your earnings and will be required to pay in additional amounts that the Trustee reasonably expects you to pay.You will also be expected to provide regular evidence of earning throughout the period of the IPA.

At the time that the amount of your IPA was agreed the issue of bonuses and pay rises should have been raised and it should have been agreed what amount you should pay. I don't know what the OR's policy is but I would have thought that 50% was reasonable, that is what you would be required to pay in an IVA.

If you fail to make payments under an IPA then, at its worst, the Trustee can bankrupt you again if you have been discharged and if you are still in bankruptcy can oppose your automatic discharge so its as well to be strict in your dealings with your Trustee on this issue.

As to replying to post the OR has a policy of 15 working days and my own firm has a policy of 14 days so that should give you an idea.

Thanks for the reply.
I do have an IPA and have already made 2 payments of £632 cash to their premises. They couldnt supply an alternative way of paying, they offered cheque but I dont have a cheque book being a bankrupt. I asked in my first letter to them (around 2-3 months ago) if they could offer an alternative method of payment method. They did not reply.

I understand the IPA process etc. But their are finer points.
As I have 21 days to notify them of an increase in income, yet they seemingly can take as long as they like to let me know how much they want. What happens in another months time, do I ring them again to get fobbed off? I am seriously questioning how rubbish my trustee is (a private firm). The OR was much more efficient. Do private IP firms not have any best practices they should keep to? I dont want to complain to anyone (they could suspend my discharge as already mentioned) but how would I complain if it came to it?

Just reading my IPA agreement, it says something like I must notify them of any change in income BEFORE discharge. Would it be fair to assume that a bonus is income and that I dont need to notify them of bonuses post discharge? I never intend to miss my part of the deal.

Thanks for passing on the knowledge.

Cheers

potless

[catullus]

A number of questions there,

Some private firms post service levels/customer relations policies on their web sites. It might be worth you having a look to see if they have one and, if so, whether they have hoisted themselves with their own petard.

You could then politely point out to someone that they are letting themselves down but I don't think that an aggressive attitude would help you in your circumstances,

A Trustee has to have VERY good reasons for opposing discharge so I think that it's unlikely that you could ever find yourself in this position for minor disputes/misunderstandings with your Trustee.

As I said earlier IPA's are a relatively new thing but from my point of view they are capable of being monitored and changed during the life of the IPA and I believe that you have an ongoing responsibilty to notify and provide evidence of income even after your dicharge but, at the end of the day, it depends upon the precise wording of the IPA. If it has been incorrectly drafted in your favour, that is your good luck, but do err on the side of caution.

As to the method of payment I think that this is an issue that your Trustee needs to resolve for you. Just make sure that the money is there when he has done so.

In the meantime it sounds that you are dealing with the Trustee absolutely correctly, by communicating in writing and ensuring that there is a record of the letters being despatched

As to your point/question about bonuses being income, well I think you know the answer!!