Personal Insolvency

For creditors and individuals concerned with personal insolvency issues, CMB Partners provides innovative and practical solutions. Whether our licensed insolvency practitioners are acting as Trustees in Bankruptcy or the Supervisors of an individual Voluntary Arrangement, CMB Partners sensitive approach coupled with specialist experience and sound commercial reasoning enables creditors to maximise recoveries whilst helping insolvent individuals to avoid a potentially disastrous slide into bankruptcy.

Bankruptcy

The number of bankruptcies in the UK has grown not just due to recessionary factors but also due to the ease with which individuals can obtain credit and petition for their own bankruptcy.  While it could be construed that these factors have allowed many to seek ‘freedom’ from their debts within a year, bankruptcy can be more complicated than some may assume – especially when the debtor has assets.

With specialist bankruptcy knowledge the Trustee will seek to minimise costs and maximise recoveries and to pay dividends to creditors in as many instances as possible.  CMB Partners has an investigation team to assess whether individuals who claim to have no assets and have perhaps secreted their assets elsewhere in the hope that they will not be realised.

At the same time, where a bankrupt faces the prospect of losing a significant proportion of their assets, the team at CMB will act with compassion and respect to achieve a fair result for all parties.

Individual Voluntary Arrangements

An IVA is essentially a contract, supervised by a licensed insolvency practitioner, between an individual and his/her creditors to repay a proportion of their debts over a period of time. It is often an attractive alternative to bankruptcy. The individual may raise funds by disposing of some assets, arrange for a third party to provide funds (often in lieu of assets) and/or make monthly voluntary contributions for the benefit of the creditors from his/her income.

The advantages to the insolvent individual of an IVA include:

  • the avoidance of the stigma of bankruptcy
  • a flexible approach to asset realisation and payment schedules
  • the ability of a sole trader to continue a business
  • the debtor may avoid debarment from professional associations or from acting as a director
  • a bankrupt debtor could seek the annulment of the bankruptcy order

The advantage to the creditors is that they will receive a higher dividend than they would do in a bankruptcy and avoid the need to issue bankruptcy proceedings.