Creditors Bancruptcy Petition

[pmorley]

I have been trying to get money back from someone for over two years, at first the Gent in question said he would pay and then refused. I have gone to small claims court and a judgement has been sent to him telling him to pay. However he ignored this. I was then advised to have hand delivered to him a 'Statutory Demand under section 268(1)a of the Insolvency Act 1986. Debt for Liquidated Sum Payable Immediately Form' which I have done. I am not expecting him to respond as he has made no attempt to contact me previously. What I need to know is that if I go back to court to have a Creditors Bancruptcy Petition put against him, can I claim this money back from him as part of my costs? Thanks

[themas]

I believe the answer is yes, but you can check this with the Insolvency Service technical helpline - get the number from their website.

BUT - Are you confident this person actually has assets which can be taken to make the payment to you if he is made bankrupt? If not, then think hard about going ahead because you will be spending the money on getting him bankrupted and may get back little or nothing of what is owed to you. Also bear in mind that any money he has to hand over to the Insolvency Service is used first of all to pay their own costs, and you only start getting any money after their costs (which may be several �000s) have been paid off.

[pmorley]

Many thanks for your reply themas, he has ooddles of money so not worries there, however I did not realise I needed to go through some sort of Insolvency Service, I thought I could just go through the small claims court myself. I think I have been led the wrong way in dealing with this, maybe I should have gone for a warrant of execution.

[themas]

As you are confident he has the money it might well be easier to try to enforce the county court judgement. There are various ways of doing this - I think details are on the Courts Service website, or your local Court could give youy information.

The bankruptcy route is entirely separate and there is nothing to stop you following it later if you need to (but you might have to issue another Satutory Demand first - I don't know how long these are valid for).

[pmorley]

Again, many thanks themas, I think I will try that first, as the alternative seems expensive.