Whats classed as professional advice?

[hellybelly]

Partner is going for BR, and on other posts Ive noticed that you need to have sought professional help before BR, he's spoken to Thomas Charles and they sent him an e-mail saying he's better going for BR over an IVA, so is this professional advice? Should he take a copy of the e-mail to the court?

He was also on a DMP, is this also classed as professional advice?

I know its better to post on the BR site but people reply quicker on here!

[go_4_broke]

helly,

All that usually seems to happen is that the Judge asks if you have taken professional advice and you say 'Yes' and give some details, so taking the email is a good idea. Also, summarize it in the personal statement section on the Statement of Affairs.

If you want belt-and-braces get a 2nd opinion from one of the major national free organizations such as CAB or CCCS.

-Best

'5 years sticking my head into the Lion's mouth of debt !'

[hellybelly]

Also, sorry if I'm being a pain, but do you always have to pay some money to the court for 3 years, what i mean is, is it more usual or unusual to pay it?

[go_4_broke]

I don't know how common it is statistically but certainly the OR can require a contibution from income if there is deemed to be enough left after living expenses. The trick I'm told is to claim for everything you can think of and then let the OR disallow anything they don't like the look of. Fags and booze won't cut it for instance. If you can get it down to less than couple of hundred quid a month there's an increasing chance they won't bother anyway, tho I don't know what the exact 'cutoff' point is.

Another thing you can do is reduce income by not doing say, 'overtime', if it's optional, to get you 'under the radar' for this. Then once the bankruptcy is over in a years time there is no danger of an order so you can do it again, and you've avoided 3 years contributions !

Either way you'll be paying a lot less than under an IVA.

-Best

'5 years sticking my head into the Lion's mouth of debt !'

[hellybelly]

Well we've got £208 left each month and we haven't included things like haircuts, holidays or an emergency fund if the car needs repairing, new tyres etc.

Its got to be better than paying £560 on an IVA!

[go_4_broke]

Too right there ! [;)]

I would seriously consider putting all those things in except the holidays, tho obviously the car stuff is only relevant if HE is being allowed to keep the car.

Also don't forget you need to work it out purely based on HIS expenses/contributions to the household. If this cuts the 208 in half to 104 so much the better.

-Best

'5 years sticking my head into the Lion's mouth of debt !'

[Oliver]

If you have spoken with a Debt Adviser at Thomas Charles then this will be seen in a very good light by the Court as you have taken a serious look at your finances and options and decided that Bankruptcy is the best solution to your individual debt problem.

With regards to paying money back to your creditors you are quite right to state that this can be enforced for a 3 year period. However, the expenses allowed in Bankruptcy are often much more lenient than in an IVA and as such you are less likely to have to pay as much back per month.




Best Regards
Oliver

Thomas Charles and Co Ltd.
Experts in personal debt solutions.
Read customer feedback at: www.thomascharles.com/about_us.asp

[jamesfalla]

Hellybelly

It is not strictly necessary to seak professional advice before deciding to undertake an IVA. However, if your partner has already been on a DMP and you have also spoken to a company like Thomas Charles, then you will certainly not need toi do anything else.

When recording monthly expenses in the bankruptcy statement of affairs, you should add in everything you can think of. Then as go_4_broke says, it will be up to the OR to take them out if he/she thinks they are unreasonable. You should definitly be putting in a budget for car maintenance (normally £30-£50/mth). I would also put in a contingency budget of £50/mth.

In my experiance the OR will accept this

James Falla

Expert in IVA, Bankruptcy and informal Debt Management solutions for over 10 years.

For more information visit www.jamesfalla.com and visit my blog at: http://jamesfalla.blogs.iva.co.uk

[hellybelly]

Thanks James, that should take his disposable income down to £104!

[go_4_broke]

Also bear in mind they should only look for a %age of income, not 'the lot'.

But on your revised figures, you're probably not even that close.

-Best


'5 years sticking my head into the Lion's mouth of debt !'