Recognising Insolvency
Answer three simple questions to determine if you could be insolvent:
- Are you or your company unable to pay its debts as and when they fall due?
- Does its liabilities exceed its assets?
- Has a creditor obtained a County Court Judgement, have a statutory demand outstanding, or a winding up petition threatened?
If the answer to any of these questions is YES, or could be in the near future you need professional advice. Don't leave it too late, the earlier you contact us, the earlier we can start helping.
Corporate Insolvency
Personal Insolvency
Individual Voluntary Arrangement
An individual voluntary arrangement (IVA) is an alternative to bankruptcy. It is a legal process that gives an individual struggling with their debts protection from creditors, whilst providing creditors with a better return than Bankruptcy.
The procedure enables the individual to put a proposal to his creditors for a composition in satisfaction of his debts or a scheme of arrangement of his affairs. A composition is an agreement under which creditors agree to accept a certain sum of money in settlement of the debts due to them. The procedure is extremely flexible and the form which the voluntary arrangement takes will depend on the terms of the proposal agreed by the creditors.
Typically an IVA lasts for between one to five years during which time interest on debts is frozen and repayments are made to creditors from the realisation of assets or from contributions made out of earnings. The agreement requires the approval of at least 75 percent in value of the creditors, and once approved is legally binding on the individual and all his creditors, whether or not they voted in favour of it.
A proposal for an IVA may be made by a debtor even if he is already subject to bankruptcy proceedings. Some recent examples of IVA's that we have implemented are:
Case Studies
Individual based in North London
We were introduced to the debtor who is a school teacher by a professional friend that had worked with us previously.
The gentleman in question had an interest in the matrimonial home which was in his name and that of his wife. He had accumulated credit card bills, and loans totalling some £45,000, and was unable to repay them after losing his job as a senior teacher.
After some discussion it was apparent that as he was approaching retirement age he could make a request from his school teacher pension fund for a monthly payment to be made for the benefit of his creditors.
The proposal was put to his creditors who recognised that they would not be able to access such funds in a bankruptcy and accepted these payments in full and final settlement of his debt. As a result of this arrangement the creditors are due to receive approximately 50 pence in the pound, and the debtor will not be forced to sell the matrimonial home.
Individual based in Wiltshire
We were approached by the family of a retired gentleman who was in ill health. He had accumulated debts of over £60,000 and was unable to meet the repayments from his pension.
By the use of an Individual Voluntary Arrangement, creditors agreed to accept his savings of £10,000 in full and final settlement of all debts due, this gave creditors a slightly better outcome than if they had made him Bankrupt. This arrangement has now successfully completed and he his able to enjoy his retirement without the enormous debt burden