Bankruptcy in Scotland – Self Sequestration?
A friend of mine who lives in Scotland has no job, no assets and thousands of pounds of debt.
She wants to make herself bankrupt, however Scottish Law states that in order to apply for self-sequestration, one of her creditors must have served her one of the following :-
1. a Charge for Payment and fourteen days notice have elapsed or,
2. a Statutory Demand and 21 days have elapsed or,
3. an Earnings Arrestment as a result of a Charge for Payment.
She has received a letter which is titled “Default notice served under section 87(1) of the Consumer Credit Act 1974″
They have given her until the 16th January 2008 to pay the outstanding amount otherwise they will close her bank account and “may take legal proceedings and/or instruct a debt collection agency to recover any outstanding amount”
Does anyone know if this letter is considered a “charge for payment” or a “statutory demand” as per the above ?
Many thanks in advance.
Marie C – I appreciate your help, but that doesn’t answer the question. I didn’t ask what other options she has. Also, as per my opening paragraph, she has no house, car, or any other assets at all.
May 30th, 2009 at 6:43 pm
what she can do is a trust deed
she takes all the information to a dedicated solicitor they will contact all creditors offering them a certain amount each month this depends on money coming in
once accepted they will do this over 3 years she must continue to pay, after the 3 years all debit will be finished even if it does not cover the amount of dept due
contact citizen advice they will give more information on this
this is better than bankruptcy as she keeps her bank account and don’t sell of property owned to recover the money
May 31st, 2009 at 2:39 am
No I’m sure a clerk of court serves some sort of warrant (which happened to me)which is called charge of payment and it will have a date set for a hearing which u can attend if you wish or not if you don’t but you have to send a form in before such case date
after that she can apply for bankruptcy,which is best done through someone who is qualified to talk her through it and help,she can contact the welfare advice officer in India street Glasgow or your local authority office if you don’t live in Glasgow. if you need more info i will try and find more out as been through it myself since Feb 2006.
June 3rd, 2009 at 2:42 am
The default notice is not any of the above, what your friend needs is a legal document served upon her by Sheriff Officers, in Scotland they are the only people who can serve legal documents, unless it is a private business and they can use process servers.
But by the sounds of it its not so anything from Sheriff Officers then she has what she needs to go ahead with the sequestration.