www.iva.co.uk

Good Afternoon,

I am hoping somebody could help me please, Last year my husband an I turned to IVA to help us pay the bills after his mother was murdered, and he was unable to work for a while, we are due a compensation payment for about £5000 but are unsure if we need to declare this, is it classed as a windfall and do we have to give the money to the IVA company?.

I would be very grateful if someone could help please as this is one more stress my husband just doesnt need after such a horrible year any advice is gratefully recieved

Thankyou

Samarie

Hey Samarie, welcome to the forum, what an awful thing to happen, I'm so sorry. I can't help you but an expert will be along shortly to advise you. Viki X

Hi samarie and welcome to the forum

First of all can I express my deepest sympathy for the loss of your mother-in-law in such tragic circumstances. What a terrible thing to happen, for which there can be no real monetary compensation sufficient.

If your husband is entitled to the money, then I am afraid that this will have to be disclosed as a windfall and paid to the supervisor for the benefit of your creditors - assuming that you do have the windfall clause which is pretty standard these days.

If I have got the info correct, your husband's mother died before the IVA was approved? If this is the case you may need some legal advice on this. It might be a technical issue that the monies were due before the IVA was approved albeit that the monies might not be paid until after the IVA was approved. It will depend on cetain circumstances and the detail in the IVA proposal.

Sorry it is not a straight forward answer but you may benefit speaking to an insolvency specialist solicitor.

That's a windfall in my book Alan. I cannot see it any other way, and if it was known that there was an entitlement to a claim at the time the IVA was entered into, then this should have been dislosed on the debtor's statement of affairs as well - or at least a mention of the possibility made in the proposal.

dont think anyone with any morals could class a compensation payment for the murder of a mother as a windfall.

but as we are dealing with financial institutions IP's included it does pose some interesting debating points.

id sugest if a compensation payment was made from the state due to the loss of someone in this sad and unlawfull way then the money is theres and theres only,that person has lost someone for the rest of there lives,not just for a 60 month payment period.

id suggest if an IP is cold hearted enough to get what they think is there share of this money,then seek legal advice,take your IP to court for causing further stress and sadness after your loss would be quite ironic to sue an IP maybe get them to pay the money from there bank account directly into your iva account...lol

would certainly be an interesting case,and might make a few more IP's think before they open there mouths and there grab every penny attitude.

What many IP's fail to see is that people who enter an iva are trying there best with regards giving there creditors something back,many of these people would be better off filing for bankruptcy with much less going to creditors,and certainly nothing for IP's.

It is not a case of whether an IP is cold hearted or not. Any compensation, regardless of what it is paid for, has to be counted as a windfall and will come under the remit of the IVA.

I think you will find that the majority of IP's are not money grabbing, they will do their level best to sort out your problems the best way for you. They will not advise an IVA when bankruptcy would be the best option.

Hey lil.me, as far as I can gather, it's only certain personal injury compensation that wouldn't need to be paid into the IVA as I guess this would be used for any medical aids you may need. I agree with Jan, it's a windfall and it doesn't make the IP cold hearted, they are only doing what is right.

definition of windfall "an unexpected gain, piece of good fortune, or the like"

in fact quite the oposite this is compensation for an unexpected loss after a piece of very bad fortune.

Whilst the latter two don't fit, it most certainly is an unexpected gain.

If you are in an IVA, you should expect to pay across any lump sums received over £500.