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01.
Moreton Smith Legal Services for Bankruptcy Orders
Moreton Smith’s award winning legal team can provide you with a legal service tailored to
meet your specific requirements, and our team of friendly and professional paralegals are
on hand to give advice and information when you need it. We can design your litigation
strategy to complement your credit policy, taking instructions on a generic basis to ensure a
seamless progression of your files from credit control to enforcement. Moreton Smith’s
centralised online reporting system means that you always have access to the very latest
position with each of your cases, and reports can be delivered to your inbox as required.
We work in conjunction with a firm of solicitors to present bankruptcy orders on a conditional
fee basis (CFA) also known as no win no fee basis. This is a much faster way to obtain
payment than proceeding with standard county court action.
The CFA will cover the fees of the solicitors and the associated court fees. This means on a
successful case there are no fees to pay. If no recovery is made from the debtor, the fees
are written off.
A bankruptcy order is only suitable for undefended claims or claims which have an
unfounded dispute against individuals in England and Wales. It is also only worthwhile for
debts over £3000. Additionally it is only suitable where your debtor is a home owner.
Moreton Smith’s commission rate remains unchanged except where quoted otherwise, and
is charged on the principle sum only. Moreton Smith retains interest and late payment
charges.
02.
What do I need to provide?
We will need the full name of your debtor and their home address as a starting point. If your
debtor is a non limited business we will need the full name of the proprietor and his or her
home address. If you do not know the name of the proprietor we can provide a business
report to obtain this information for a small fee, and then trace him or her to the home
address on a no trace no fee basis.
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03.
How do you check if bankruptcy is suitable?
In order to establish whether your debtor has sufficient assets to justify bankruptcy
proceedings, we will run a land registry search on your behalf. We cover the costs of this
search for you, and you should allow 48 hours for completion. If the search reveals that your
debtor is a home owner we will then check the relative equity the debtor has in the property
and then where appropriate instruct surveyors to establish a valuation. This may take a
couple of weeks and again we will cover the full costs of this process for you.
If your debtor is not a home owner, we will then recommend county court proceedings and
provide you with a quote for proceeding down this route.
04.
How is the petition served?
The petition is served personally on the debtor usually at their residential address or
business address. If you do not have an address for the debtor, we cannot proceed with
service of the petition.
05.
What happens if the debtor files a dispute?
The debtor can file a dispute at least 7 days before the bankruptcy hearing. The dispute is
then dealt with at the hearing and the Court will then decide to either: stop proceedings,
dismiss the petition, adjourn the hearing or make the bankruptcy order. Before the hearing
we will discuss with you the best way forward with the case and this may incur additional
costs outside of the CFA. However we anticipate that most disputes will be dealt with during
the collections phase before we issue proceedings.
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06.
Can I agree to settle?
Yes you can agree to settle. However if the solicitors have already been instructed you
become liable for the solicitors fees and disbursements and need to take this into
consideration when deciding on a settlement offer made. We can advise you of those
charges if settlement is proposed. Also if you accept a settlement of the claim, a pro rata
amount will be deducted for payment towards recoverable interest and late payment
charges.
07.
What happens after someone is bankrupt?
We will ask the Court to appoint our partner insolvency practitioners as trustees of the
debtor’s estate. They will be the receiver and manger of the debtor’s affairs and assess the
debtor assets. We would expect there to be some return to creditors as we would have
already established that the debtor has some assets and our partner trustees would advise
us of this in due course.
08.
Can you continue to monitor proceedings once debt
registered?
Our services under the CFA are to obtain a bankruptcy order and to ensure your debt is
registered. Yes, we can then further monitor proceedings for you to full conclusion at a
separate charge of £250 per year.
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09.
Can anyone appeal against or stop the bankruptcy?
Yes this can happen. The Court, the debtor or anyone else can apply to cancel the order if
they meet certain criteria such as a change in the bankrupt’s circumstances.
Please note this information is intended for guidance purposes only and is not intended to
be binding on Moreton Smith. Our standard terms and conditions still apply to all legal work.
If you require any more information on any of Moreton Smith’s legal services, please
contact Lauren Carter on 020 7490 9010.
