In our first three articles in this series, we looked at Debt Consolidation, the Debt Management Plan and the Individual Voluntary Arrangement as three of the main approaches for dealing with personal debt problems. In this fourth and final article we will briefly look at the last of the main processes that are specifically targeted at debtors who are insolvent i.e. Bankruptcy. Continue reading
Bankruptcy
Read our debt articles relating to Bankruptcy, written in house by our Insolvency Professionals
Comparing an IVA with Bankruptcy
When you are unable to pay your debts, it is inevitable that you might consider doing one of the big Insolvency solutions that are available in the UK, such as an Individual Voluntary Arrangement (IVA) or Bankruptcy. Naturally there might also be other more favourable solutions available to you also, such as a DRO. When you get to a level of unaffordability where doing nothing is not an option, you will need to research your options. Ultimately, whatever the quality or amount of advice you seek, it will be up to you to make a decision of which option is best.
Continue readingExperiencing the Penalty of Debt
Capital punishment for even the most heinous criminal offenses has long been abolished in the majority of western democracies with some significant exceptions such as the USA. In regard to personal debt however, the USA has a most benign set of laws dealing with indebtedness both personal and corporate. Contrasting very much in both of these matters is the Republic of Ireland. The death penalty is long eliminated in Ireland but the personal insolvency regime there has been explained by a great many august authorities as unrealistic, rarely used, very costly and exceedingly penal. Continue reading
Solving Personal Debt Problems with Support from Europe
Most citizens of member states of the European Union (EU) are unaware of certain unexpected benefits that EU membership conveys in relation to personal insolvency. These benefits are rooted in the principle of the free movement of labour which EU citizens enjoy within the EU and are particularly relevant for those who find themselves overburdened by debt and threatened with aggressive insolvency proceedings in certain member states of the EU. Continue reading
Bankruptcy term length in Ireland
Justice Minister Alan Shatter recently circulated the specifics of the Civil Law (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill which will provide the outcome of decreasing the term of bankruptcy in Ireland. Bankrupts according to the proposed new legislation will ‘enjoy’ guaranteed release from bankruptcy after twelve years but will be legally permitted to submit an application for release from bankruptcy after five years.
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Relieving the Suffering of Personal Debt
When men or women start thinking about their own acute debt worries they occasionally contemplate how awful it would be if they had to go bankrupt. Whether or not they petition for their own bankruptcy or one of their creditors petitions for it, the stigma or imagined stigma of bankruptcy is the worst type of emotion a person may have some. However, there are several other great and pragmatic remedies other than personal bankruptcy. It might perhaps even be more desirable for both the consumer and his or her creditors to employ a different procedure to bankruptcy. Continue reading
Insolvency | Dodgy Transactions
In the lead up to any liquidation process, it is important that the borrower makes sure that he behaves truthfully, honorably and fairly in his or her business with all other individuals who might be impacted by the process. All actions relating to lenders or any others (not being creditors) which will detrimentally affect the welfare of creditors are of particular concern, regardless whether creditors happen to be party to the financial transactions are not. Insolvency processes include Bankruptcy, Individual Voluntary Arrangements, Company Voluntary Arrangements, Liquidations and the like. Continue reading
Challenging the Irish Insolvency Law
A challenge to Ireland’s arcane insolvency legislation might well be made to the High Court in just weeks, in line with a newly released story in The Sunday Independent by Maeve Sheehan. This is certainly an amazing development if a challenge is made because of claimed breaches of the constitutional rights of people looking at bankruptcy. It would be truly astonishing if this might happen and turn into the prompt for reform of the legislation and also the launching of fresh laws on individual personal debt in addition to debt codes. It might be unfair to accuse the new Fine Gael – Labour coalition administration of sitting on its hands on this question, given the inertia and inaction of the former Fianna Fail – Greens administration, that couldn’t manage to get thier combined minds round the idea of personal debt forgiveness. The new administration has had many significant sovereign and banking money issues to cope with but it is now time to deal with business that would help the individual citizen. Continue reading
Fall in levels of Insolvency
In recent months I have written on the dramatic growth of personal insolvencies in the UK over the last decade and of the reasons behind this growth. That is to say it was primarily down to the explosion of availability of credit and other economic factors. I have suggested that it will only get worse before it gets any better. Then earlier this month the third quarter statistics were released by the government’s Insolvency Service. They showed that for both forms of personal insolvency, bankruptcy and individual voluntary arrangements, there has been a fall. Continue reading
The Reason Why Bankruptcy in Ireland is Draconian
Time and money are generally major resources in almost any flourishing enterprise. These particular significant building blocks involve and conjure up concepts such as expenses, budgets, output, due dates, earnings funding and so on. The range really is limitless. The analogy with bankruptcy or in other words the legislation dealing with bankruptcy in Ireland springs to mind.
The primary criticisms of Irish individual bankruptcy law are that bankruptcy costs too much and it also lasts too long. Because of the need for the bankruptcy to be dealt with by the high court, costs of the order of £30,000 are the norm. What lender can afford that? Without having any possibility to check out the estate of the bankrupt in advance, what creditor will take a chance on petitioning for a debtor’s bankruptcy without any guarantee that properties and assets realized will take care of such enormous charges, much less begin to settle debts? Continue reading