My bankruptcy order has been decreed - what now?

When you have completed your formal application for bankruptcy, the local county court will be the body that decides whether or not it gets approved or rejected. Typically a bankruptcy application will only be rejected if the court believes that your specific situation is better dealt with in an alternative manner.

As soon as your bankruptcy has been officially decreed, the courts will freeze all of your accounts. In addition to this the Official Receiver will gain sovereignty of your cash. A personal meeting will be arranged with the Official Receiver in order to carry out an evaluation of your assets. They will then decide which of these are eligible for sale in order to go towards paying off your debts. There is sometimes a requirement to fill out a B40.01 questionnaire that will ask you to provide information that is similar to what you would have provided on your statement of affairs form.

Depending on your individual situation you may be able to carry out this questionnaire over the phone, in other circumstances you may have to go into their office to meet them in person.

The next step after your meeting with the Official Receiver is informing the creditors of your bankruptcy. The Official Receiver will get in touch with them and give them all the information that they require, informing them of the state of your finances. Once this is done, any of the assets that you have will be evaluated for sale and will most likely be sold on in order to fund the repayment of some of your debts. Before this happens you will need to have paid all of the fees associated with your bankruptcy, along with your court and official receiver fees.

Bankruptcy orders will typically end exactly twelve months after it was decreed by the courts.

Once it has ended your Official Receiver will get in touch with you to let you know. Most of the debts that you had before your bankruptcy will be written off after this period of time, although any credit that you acquired during the period will still need to be repaid.

If you are still having trouble with your debts after your bankruptcy has come to an end, you should get in touch with Citizens Advice or speak to a financial expert.