Where do I start Bankruptsy

[wakeupandsmellthecoffee]

Does anyone or can anyone explain to me the various ways of going bankrupt . I know there is a voluntary one you can do . I am totally confused and just looking for advice . Please reply . Thanks

bump for you. try CAB.

thanks mumblechum .

This is my advice, for what it's worth. I'm a lawyer but haven't done any insolvency stuff for years so theres a very strong chance much of this is out of date.
If your liabilities are bigger than your assets then you are technically insolvent. You can file a debtors petition at the local county court, to do so the court will give you all the forms and charge you quite a big fee. You also have to pay a substantial deposit to the court for the trustee in bankruptcy's fee. If you phone your local county court and ask for the insolvency section they'llgive you the up to date info. You have to list every debt you have, and the trustee in bankruptcy then writes to all your creditors to get confirmation of the position. He/she then gets valuations of all your assets, eg house, car, etc. If your house is in joint names it'll probably have to be sold to release your half. In those circs, don't bother transferring to spouse, the court can reverse the transfer.
Eventually, the court will make a bankruptcy order and work out how much you can pay your creditors per month. As long as you keep your nose clean and don't open a bank account with a debit facility, don't start a business etc, after a while (it was 3 years, may be different now), you are essentially purged of that debt, and discharged from the bankruptcy order. The upside therefore is that you can be unburdened from all the stress of being chased by your creditors and from paying all the debt, the downside of course is that you'll be a very bad risk credit wise (which may be a good thing in a way, as you can't get into a mess again). Unfortunately, of course, it'll be very difficult to get a mortgage in the future.
As an alternative, you could do a voluntary insolvency arrangement but I know they get a very bad press.
As I say, I'm not confident that the advice I'm giving is up to date, so the CAB are probably still your best bet. Good luck.

Thanks mumble we are thinking of an IVA and know they get bad press , do you know why this is and can anyone reccomend a good company to go with if we do decide to go down this route ,

Most people who get an IVA end up bankrupt anyway and it akes 5 years to start again. You could be a discharged in under a year.
Have a look at money saving expert .co.uk