Posted: Sun Apr 08, 2007 11:48 am
I’m new to this forum so apologies if this question is considered outside the remit of the forum.
Someone owes me about £95 k. He disputes the sum and says that he believes it is closer to £75 - 80k. He has been dragging his feet for almost 3 years about paying this. I was living abroad for a long time. I came back to this country about a year ago. There is some ambiguity in some of the written agreements between us concerning the investments that led to the debt. About 75k of the debt is beyond dispute. The remainder is open to interpretation and includes interest on the debt over the last 3 years.
I got tired of asking him nicely for the money and I’ve hired a debt-collecting agency. The next stage is that we issue a Statutory Demand and then if necessary threaten him with bankruptcy. He says that if I do that he will fight everything tooth and nail and will drag things out for years. The alternative that he suggests is that he offers me a smaller sum now (say 25 – 30k) and the remainder in installments over the next year or two. Considering how much trouble I’ve had getting the money I’m reluctant to prolong the agony even further.
As far as I know I am his only creditor.
He owns two properties that I know of. I estimate their value is about £200k (minimum 150 k) but he claims they are both heavily mortgaged. At the start of 2006 he transferred 2 other properties plus a Rolls-Royce car to his wife’s name. I estimate that their combined value would be about £300k (minimum 250 k).
He claims his monthly income is about £4k. I don’t know how accurate that figure is.
To me it seems a straightforward matter that he borrows money based on his current assets and income to pay the debt. In that case he could pay me straightaway. Even if he offered me £75k now I probably would accept it. I’m very suspicious about his idea to pay me over the next year or two. He claims that this is the idea of his accountant who says that it would cause him all sorts of tax problems if he paid everything at once. My view is that this is his problem not mine.
I’ve heard somewhere that if assets are in a spouse’s name they cannot be touched in a bankruptcy proceedings. Is that correct? It does not make sense because if that is the case anyone could just transfer all major assets to a spouse and then built up large debts (say with a credit card company or whatever) and then say ‘go ahead bankrupt me, I have no assets’.
It is a case of bluff and counter-bluff. He is calling my bluff about bankruptcy. He claims that it could take up to 5 years and there is no guarantee that I will get everything I want. On the other hand if I accept his pay by installments option I’m afraid that after a few months he will stop paying and the problem will resume.
My main question for this forum is - can someone drag out bankruptcy proceedings for years and years if they have the assets but just don’t want to pay?
Many thanks for any advice or suggestions
Someone owes me about £95 k. He disputes the sum and says that he believes it is closer to £75 - 80k. He has been dragging his feet for almost 3 years about paying this. I was living abroad for a long time. I came back to this country about a year ago. There is some ambiguity in some of the written agreements between us concerning the investments that led to the debt. About 75k of the debt is beyond dispute. The remainder is open to interpretation and includes interest on the debt over the last 3 years.
I got tired of asking him nicely for the money and I’ve hired a debt-collecting agency. The next stage is that we issue a Statutory Demand and then if necessary threaten him with bankruptcy. He says that if I do that he will fight everything tooth and nail and will drag things out for years. The alternative that he suggests is that he offers me a smaller sum now (say 25 – 30k) and the remainder in installments over the next year or two. Considering how much trouble I’ve had getting the money I’m reluctant to prolong the agony even further.
As far as I know I am his only creditor.
He owns two properties that I know of. I estimate their value is about £200k (minimum 150 k) but he claims they are both heavily mortgaged. At the start of 2006 he transferred 2 other properties plus a Rolls-Royce car to his wife’s name. I estimate that their combined value would be about £300k (minimum 250 k).
He claims his monthly income is about £4k. I don’t know how accurate that figure is.
To me it seems a straightforward matter that he borrows money based on his current assets and income to pay the debt. In that case he could pay me straightaway. Even if he offered me £75k now I probably would accept it. I’m very suspicious about his idea to pay me over the next year or two. He claims that this is the idea of his accountant who says that it would cause him all sorts of tax problems if he paid everything at once. My view is that this is his problem not mine.
I’ve heard somewhere that if assets are in a spouse’s name they cannot be touched in a bankruptcy proceedings. Is that correct? It does not make sense because if that is the case anyone could just transfer all major assets to a spouse and then built up large debts (say with a credit card company or whatever) and then say ‘go ahead bankrupt me, I have no assets’.
It is a case of bluff and counter-bluff. He is calling my bluff about bankruptcy. He claims that it could take up to 5 years and there is no guarantee that I will get everything I want. On the other hand if I accept his pay by installments option I’m afraid that after a few months he will stop paying and the problem will resume.
My main question for this forum is - can someone drag out bankruptcy proceedings for years and years if they have the assets but just don’t want to pay?
Many thanks for any advice or suggestions