What happens when I go to Court to be made bankrupt?
To be able to file for bankruptcy you will need a set of documents called a bankruptcy petition and statement of affairs. You will be required to go to your local county court to hand in the petition. This is what you should expect to happen at court:
Most courts you will need to book a time and date in advance and others are on a first come first serve basis, check with your local court to find out their protocol. When you arrive at the court you will need to go to the reception desk and hand over your petition. The petition will then be checked over by a member of the Official Receivers team to ensure that all the relevant sections of the Petition and Statement of Affairs have been filled out correctly.
If your case is a straight simple bankruptcy and you meet all their criteria then you may not need to see a Judge and all the work towards your bankruptcy will be dealt with behind scenes by an appointed Official Receiver. The Official Receiver is appointed by the Secretary of State and is an officer of the court. The Official Receiver has responsibility for administering your bankruptcy and protecting your assets from the date of the bankruptcy order. He or she will also act as trustee of your bankruptcy estate unless an insolvency practitioner is appointed. Once your paperwork has been checked which is normally on the same day, you will be called back and declared bankrupt.
The Official Receiver will then report to your creditors to let them know that you have been made bankrupt and you are no longer liable for your debts and the creditors are no longer allowed to hassle you for any outstanding amounts.
If your bankruptcy is not as straight forward, then you maybe required to have an Official Receivers interview. This process allows the Official Receiver to go into detail about your bankruptcy and ask questions about circumstances that led to your decision to file for bankruptcy and/or discuss assets that you may have or disposed of.
Most people are put off by bankruptcy because you have to go to court but you should not be so scared or frightened about this part of the process. If your bankruptcy meets the normal criteria and straight forward you should have nothing to worry about and as stated above shouldn’t even need to see a judge. It is merely an administrational exercise to hand in your paperwork, get it checked and signed off for bankruptcy.
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It could be that bankruptcy is the most suitable debt solution for you.
You may hear that bankruptcy should be considered a last resort, and that you should try an IVA (Individual Voluntary Arrangement), IPP (Informal Payment Plan) or DMP (Debt Management Plan) first, but this isn't always suitable. What's right for you depends entirely on your circumstances as these are all solutions to the same problem, but tackled differently.
You may find that you would benefit from professional help in completing your Statement of Affairs and Bankruptcy Petition.
From the time that you decide to apply for a bankruptcy order, to the day that you are declared bankrupt, you may seek assistance in order to keep your creditors and bailiffs at bay. In addition, performing your own research into bankruptcy often results in receiving conflicting information, depending on the source(s).
Personal bankruptcy for Scottish residents is called Sequestration.
To be sequestrated you must owe at least £1,500 and either: one or more of your creditors must have taken you to court to enforce or demand you repay a debt or you must have been on a debt payment programme under DAS that has been revoked and one of the creditors in the DPP have been to court and obtained a decree on one of the debts.
You are immediately free from debt and will not be responsible for any of your pre-existing debts.
It is a fresh start for you and your family to start again and build yourself up from a position of strength. You are immediately protected from all your creditors who form part of your bankruptcy.
Clear Insolvency is trading name of Hamilton and Clarke Ltd.
Registered in the UK. Company no. 6465374. Consumer Credit License (UK) 612841
Clear Insolvency, 27 Old Gloucester Street, London, WC1N 3AX
