A view on the proposed changes the the Irish Bankruptcy Act 1988

By Steve Thatcher of Help With Debt


Here is the new proposed amendment.

Head 125 – Amendment of section 85 of Bankruptcy Act 1988 (as inserted by the
Civil Law (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2011)

Provide for the substitution of the section 85 (as amended) with the following text.
Automatic discharge from bankruptcy

Provide that

85 (1) Every bankruptcy shall, on the 3rd anniversary of the date of the making of the
adjudication order in respect of that bankruptcy, unless prior to that date the
bankruptcy has been discharged or annulled, stand discharged.

(2) Any bankruptcy subsisting at the commencement of this Act where the order of
adjudication in respect thereof was made before 3 years prior to the date of
commencement, is hereby discharged

(3) The bankrupt’s unrealised property shall remain vested in the Official Assignee
after discharge from bankruptcy.

(4) The bankrupt shall after discharge from bankruptcy have a duty to cooperate with
the Official Assignee in the realisation and distribution of such of his or her property
as is vested in the Official Assignee.

(5) The court shall, on application to it, have discretion to make and vary an order
requiring the discharged bankrupt to make payments from his or her income to the
Official Assignee or any other trustee for the benefit of his or her creditors for a
period lasting up to 5 years from the date of the discharge of the bankruptcy.

(6) In making the order under subsection (5), the Court shall have regard to the
reasonable living expenses of the bankrupt and his or her family and for that purpose,
the Court may have regard to any guidelines on reasonable expenditure and essential
income for debtors published by the Insolvency Service pursuant to Head 132 of this
Act.

(7) A person whose bankruptcy has been discharged by virtue of this section may on
application obtain a certificate of discharge under the seal of the Court.

(8) In this section "bankrupt" includes personal representatives and assigns.

I am not sure how many of you have seen the new amendments, but they are as above.

The key points are that you will now get an automatic discharge after 3 years instead of 12.
Any unrealised property remains vested in the Official Assignee after discharge
There is the ability for someone to make an apllication to the court for an order that payments be made for five years.

Questions which immediantly arise are:-
1. How long after discharge does un realised property remain vested in the assignee. We had this situation here in the UK. It used to be the case that if a house or pension wasn't dealt with and realised, it was filed in the Protracted Realsisations Unit. I dealt with cases whereby 20 years after a bankruptcy had ended we had the right to force a sale of a property whih now had lots of equity.
If this is the same here and there are no time constraints mentioned, it could be the case that in 20 years the Assignee writes to your asking for €100,000 from the equity now attached to the property.

2. Who has the right after the three year bankruptcy to apply to court for a five year payment plan. The Banks will love this. They get access to assets for three years and then if unrealised perhaps an unlimited time, and then access to any wealth you then build up for the next five years.

It seems to me that you could end up going bankrupt and yet still be on the hook for money you through you had written off for decades to come.

Where in here is the ability to write off your debts and re-start your life?