www.iva.co.uk

My husband and I are both in IVA`s. mine is due to end in July 2014 and my husbands June 2015,we earn roughly the same and currently each pay 50% of our surplus income into our IVA`,Once mine has finished will I be able to keep my 50% surplus or will this have to be put towards my husbands IVA

As long as you pay your share of the household bills then your surplus should be yours to do as you wish with. Some IP's hold a different view to this, just search some of the posts, they however are pushing the boundaries. Most are grown up in their procedures in regard to this sort of matter.

Not at all - it is yours to keep, and no-one should be able to argue otherwise.

I am not at all happy .I have just been told by my IVA company that once my IVA is completed ,I will not be keeping my Surplus my husband monthly payment will increase by at least 50% of my surplus to take into account the increase in income. I explained that there is no increase in income just a decrease in expenditure due to me not paying my IVA. They are adamant that this is correct and standard procedure.!

Have you spoken to your IP or a caseworker ? I would request a conversation with your IP direct and if necessary mention the advice of other forum experts. Your money is your money ... So long as the bills are split fairly your income is yours !

I disagree with your IP unless there was something in your proposal that I do not know about. As Lulu says your money is yours and you owe nothing to your husband's IP and have no obligation to even speak to them. If they try and increase your husband's IVA payments he should complain to anyone that will listen so he should speak directly to his IP and get this cleared up.

I could do with some help ! I have again spoken to my iva company and they are referring to a section in my husbands iva that states any increase in income 50% of the increase must be handed over into iva .I have no problem with this but I do not believe that my share of the surplus should be classed as an increase in income.
They have offered to formalise my complaint but until our annual review is completed I am reluctant to do this. (incidentally this is due now but they are too busy to do it until 4th July!!)
Am I misunderstanding something?

If your husband's proposal refers to an increase in his income this in no way applies to you! Your husband has not had an increase in income therefore he does not have to increase his payments. You are not involved in his IVA therefore you do not have to contribute towards it.

If you refuse to pay into his IVA what are they going to do about it? I think you should both request a meeting with the IP themselves and have everything explained to you and your husband in writing. Ask for an explanation of which clauses commit you or him to increase the payments when your IVA is over and then seek independent legal advice from an insolvency lawyer. You can advise the IP of what you propose to do and also advise that you will be seeking an order for any costs incurred unless they are met from either or both IVAs. This seems so crazy and unless there is something else buried in both your proposals I cannot see how you have to pay anything to his IVA.

Thankyou Michael,
I can`t find anything in our proposals that would mean that I would need to pay into his IVA, All it mentions is the increase in income which the IVA company are saying refers to disposable joint income not just my husband’s income.
I don’t want to give in on this but I also don’t want to put my husband’s IVA at risk.
I will request a meeting once I have re read all our paperwork. It all seems to boil down difference in opinion as to what the word "income" actually means

Hi Helen. I keep trawling this up, but .... I had a discussion, quite a while back, with a representative of a well known charity firm, who insisted that the disposable income was derived from the total HOUSEHOLD income (including, he confirmed, working children!). This was on another forum, so I can't give a link.

"Income" even at a stretch the contract definition of that was "joint income", that income is then the sum of at least two parts. That being the case both parts of that "joint" would need to agree to that contract condition, to make it binding, just a guess mind!

Sponge (and this is meant somewhat tongue in cheek), if the arrangement stated that on the first Friday of each month the debtor is to paint his face blue, there would be a falling out over which shade and what constituted blue. I would imagine that some firms would even look to the other end of the spectrum for the answer !

Well I finally have an answer, It has taken until last week for my iva company to get an answer directly from my IP ( although I don`t think they actually asked until I had my review in early July and queried it again).
I make my final payment on monday and do not have to pay into my husbands IVA,
Thankyou all for your help, even though I was confident I should not be contributing to my husbands IVA you gave me the confidence to argue my case.

Nice to see common sense prevailing at last - although heaven knows why this simply issue took so long to resolve for you Helen. Well done for sticking by your guns and being persistent - we all knew that was the right answer all along!

That is great news but it is lucky you came on here to query what you were being told. Many people would have just agreed thinking that they had to and no doubt they would never have gotten their money back!