BR how confused?

A question about : BR how confused?

Hello help needed, partner and I both have debts which are from before we got together. We would both like to go BR to start afresh, should we do one at a time or both at the same time and does overtime money earned count as income or not? Also does anybody know if weekly living expenses are divided down the middle, I have two children from a previous marriage living with us. Any help would be much appreciated

Best answers:

• Hi and welcome It would be up to you to decide whether to go bankrupt together or seperately however whichever way there will be two sets of fees to pay, also if you have any joint debt and decide to go BR separately, in the interim period the non bankrupt person would be liable for the debt (although realistically that doesn't really mean much if the other person is going bankrupt anyway)
  With regards to overtime, yes that would be counted as income. It might be worth you filling in a statement of affairs so you can see what your monthly expenditure is and what it would be like post bankruptcy, as the official receiver (person who administers the bankruptcy) would need to see this anyway. You would need to speak to a professional organisation such as CCCS or the CAB to get impartial advice before you could go bankrupt anyway and they would be able to give advice if you have any assets such as a house (as could others on this board )
  The living expenses are not necessarily split down the middle as it depends on how much both parties earn and contribute towards the household expenditure e.g when I went BR my husband was claiming benefits and his income was about 1/7th of my income, therefore he contributed less to the household expenses.
  Sorry if any of this doesn't make sense, if it doesn't shout up as I'm getting tired and in danger of rambling!
  Take care and shout up if you have any questions, there's normally someone around to help
  December
• hi there just a qick answer as someone who knows more than me will be along to help you more fully but yes overtime does count if you go over what is "reasonable" to live on after all your expenses are taken into account,but the OR will not take it all about 50%if you earn loads about 75%,I would say do both at the same time cant see any reason not to do,as fo ris everything 50/50,yes if you both earn the same,no if you don't,you cant say I pay 80% rent and she only pays 20% hope that helps abit the big lads will be along soon
• The official receiver basically looks at your living expenses and decides what they think is reasonable or not. Anything that they deem to not be reasonable they disallow and say that it has to come out of any surplus money after your other living expenses have been met. Depending on how much surplus money you have depends on how much you pay back. (as per the table I copied from another thread below)
  
  The paying back of this money is called an Income Payments Agreement (IPA) and if it is enforced, usually lasts for 36 months although while bankrupt you are given a nil tax code and the money you would have been paying in income tax goes to the official receiver for administering the bankruptcy. Hope I haven't totally confused you, my brain's a bit addled at the moment
  December
• Just to add if you decide to go bankrupt, pop your monthly outgoings on a thread here and people will generally advise what you can include and what you can't, to make sure that you don't have too much of a surplus