Posted: Sat Aug 30, 2008 4:06 pm
Hi all, I am new to this site but not to debt. For five and a half years (since I split from my wife) I have been with a debt management company paying off my creditors but had to drop to a minimum payment of one pound a debt a couple of years back following a heart attack and giving up my job. I am now self employed but earn an abloute pittance and in fact qualify for working tax credit and only survive financially because of the wonderful support I get from my partner. After all these years, my wife (still not divorced but oh so nearly) has agreed a settlement with me. It is not a lot (approx £20K) but it would give me the ability to pay back money lent to me from family and friends including a large amount from my partner and not forgetting approx 5K for my solicitor. I feel duty bound to sort this out as for so long I have been promising these people once I get a settlement then I will pay them back. However, after this I will only be left with a small amount of money. The debt that is still being managed for me stands at £38K with no realistic way of me ever paying this back. My health is fairly good and I just do not want the stress in my life that occurred prior to my ill health. I am therefore thinking of going bankcrupt sometime next year but my question is how far back does the OR go when looking at your finances and if I went bankrupt in say 6-8 months time would that be a fair amount of time to pass from my small settlement from my ex? I have absolutely no savings whatsoever at the moment, no home as it is in my partners name, in fact I have nothing except for two pensions that do not reach maturity for another 15 years. Many thanks