A bankruptcy order can be made against you if you owe more than £5,000.
When defending bankruptcy, you will be given a court date endorsed on the bankruptcy petition allowing you to attend court to defend bankruptcy proceedings. It is advisable to engage an expert bankruptcy solicitor to defend bankruptcy proceedings as technical defences may be available to defend the petition.
A bankruptcy solicitor can try and negotiate the debt or ask for time to pay. A large number of petitions are issued by the HMRC who are sometimes reluctant to agree to time to pay proposals though they are more amenable to enter into such arrangements when dealing with expert bankruptcy solicitors.
There are other defences to bankruptcy petitions including disputing debt and if the person having been served with a bankruptcy petition has a counter claim or cross claim against the petitioning creditor. These are matters which can and should be properly discussed with an expert bankruptcy solicitor in order to find out as to whether there are realistic prospects of successfully defending any bankruptcy petition or whether it is best to negotiate and pay off the petitioning creditor. You might also enter into a time to pay proposal.
If you have been served with a bankruptcy petition but cannot afford to engage a solicitor or barrister to represent yourself at court, then you should obtain some legal advice in the form of a fixed fee to alert you to the dangers of bankruptcy. You should also be prepared to either defend the bankruptcy yourself or at least understand the consequences of being declared bankrupt, which could result in your bank accounts being frozen and you losing your home and assets.
There is no substitute for taking expert bankruptcy legal advice as soon as possible to allow you to make well-informed decisions, including decisions as to whether the petition should be defended or whether payment should be offered and made with certain conditions or within a certain timescale.
WLL Solicitors 