What the Official Receiver Does
The Official Receiver is an employee of the Insolvency Service, they are in essence a public sector insolvency practitioner and their role is to take charge of both personal and corporate insolvencies which are generated through the courts.
This means that they will take charge of your affairs if you are made bankrupt by a creditor, known as Creditor's Petition, or you make yourself bankrupt which is known as a debtor's petition.
In this instance we will concentrate on what happens with a debtor's petition.
I help many people a month present their own bankruptcy petitions in England.
Once they have gone to court and the Bankruptcy Order has been made, their affairs fall under the jurisdiction of the Official Receiver or OR.
If you have a property then your interest in that property vests by operation of law in the OR.
He will register a restriction against the property which will mean that you will be unable to sell it.
The OR has the ability to deal with your property for up to three years after the date of the bankruptcy.
If there is negative equity the Official Receiver will often be happy to transfer the property back to you or a spouse for £1 plus his legal fees.
If there is equity you ca arrange to buy the OR out or if you cannot afford that he can take steps to sell the property to obtain his share.
The OR can elect to do nothing and place a charge on the property, but in any event he must do something with the house within three years or it reverts back to the bankrupt.
The OR is also responsible for checking your income and expenditure.
This means that he will check your income and outgoings and measure this against limits and allowances that he has for various types of expenditure, such as clothing and phone usage.
If there is what he deems surplus income available each month he can ask if you will voluntarily pay that to him or if not he ca apply to court for an order that you do so.
The former is called an income payments agreement and the latter an income payments order.
As a bankrupt you have a duty to co-operate with the OR.
In 99% of cases, you will have very little contact with the OR other than an initial interview which may last an hour.
If you have any concerns about the role of the OR in bankruptcy I would be happy to advise.
This means that they will take charge of your affairs if you are made bankrupt by a creditor, known as Creditor's Petition, or you make yourself bankrupt which is known as a debtor's petition.
In this instance we will concentrate on what happens with a debtor's petition.
I help many people a month present their own bankruptcy petitions in England.
Once they have gone to court and the Bankruptcy Order has been made, their affairs fall under the jurisdiction of the Official Receiver or OR.
If you have a property then your interest in that property vests by operation of law in the OR.
He will register a restriction against the property which will mean that you will be unable to sell it.
The OR has the ability to deal with your property for up to three years after the date of the bankruptcy.
If there is negative equity the Official Receiver will often be happy to transfer the property back to you or a spouse for £1 plus his legal fees.
If there is equity you ca arrange to buy the OR out or if you cannot afford that he can take steps to sell the property to obtain his share.
The OR can elect to do nothing and place a charge on the property, but in any event he must do something with the house within three years or it reverts back to the bankrupt.
The OR is also responsible for checking your income and expenditure.
This means that he will check your income and outgoings and measure this against limits and allowances that he has for various types of expenditure, such as clothing and phone usage.
If there is what he deems surplus income available each month he can ask if you will voluntarily pay that to him or if not he ca apply to court for an order that you do so.
The former is called an income payments agreement and the latter an income payments order.
As a bankrupt you have a duty to co-operate with the OR.
In 99% of cases, you will have very little contact with the OR other than an initial interview which may last an hour.
If you have any concerns about the role of the OR in bankruptcy I would be happy to advise.
