Living in Perth, Western Australia and have debts in England?

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Many of our previous clients live in Perth in Western Australia and have cleared their debts in the UK by filing an English bankruptcy from overseas.

Due to the very high cost of living in Perth, dealing with outstanding debts in England such as credit cards and loans can become very problematic and can affect the new start that you are trying to create abroad.

As an option, declaring bankruptcy can sound quite intimidating and negative but it has many positive aspects if you are an expat now living in Australia. The fact that the bankruptcy is being dealt with back in the UK and not in Australia means that you don’t feel the same effect as you would if you filed bankruptcy while living in England.

Australian credit won’t be affected if the process is dealt with professionally and you won’t be refused credit in Australia, so facilities such as mortgages, loans, bank accounts and credit cards are still possible to obtain.

As an established Company we have specialised in dealing with bankruptcy where people live abroad and have handled many cases in Western Australia. Due to the support that we offer people we understand how overseas bankruptcy cases are dealt with and always consider our clients best interests.

We offer a free initial consultation where the process can be explained from start to finish. If you are looking to clear all of your debts in England then contact us and we will call you to discuss your best options.

Will my assets in Australia or in the UK be affected if I petition for bankruptcy from abroad?

Dealing with assets in bankruptcy is a complicated matter and as such you need to discuss your circumstances with an experienced bankruptcy advisor. If you file bankruptcy from Western Australia with (for instance) a house in the UK that has equity, it would normally be sold by the Official Receiver and any equity would be distributed to your creditors.

If the property is in negative equity then the positive aspect of filing bankruptcy is that any negative equity will then become part of the bankruptcy debt once the property has been sold by the mortgage company.

If you own a house in Australia and declare bankruptcy in England it becomes complex as the asset is located overseas. Normally a house is seen as an asset if it has equity, but if the amount of equity is very low is it not viable to sell the property due to the high costs that are involved in taking possession and opening secondary proceedings abroad. In these cases the Official Receiver or trustee may accept a payment to sign off their “interest” in the property. If there is no equity in your Australian property then it is not an asset at all.

Assets such as cars that are financed are not actually your asset due to the fact that they are owned by the finance company. Again the amount of equity is considered, but in many cases a vehicle on finance may have more finance outstanding than the value and therefore would not seen as an asset.

For further help and advice in relation to bankruptcy from Australia complete our short enquiry form and we will be pleased to provide you with some advice.