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Hi,
I received early discharge from my bankruptcy in October and have just had a letter from the insolvency service to say they are wanting me to surrender a endowment policy linked to my mortgage which previously they said would not have to be surrendered. can they do this after i have been discharged from the court?
Advice appreciated

Hi guiness,

Sorry cannot answer your question but just wanted to say well done on getting your early discharge from bankruptcy[:)]..An expert will be along soon to help you with your query..Good Luck..xx

Yes - the endowment policy is an asset of the estate, and will need to be realised. The fact that you have been discharged from bankruptcy does not affect this at all.

But can they change their mind after discharge Melanie? The way I'm reading Guiness's post is that they were told that the policy wouldn't have to be surrendered but have now requested it after discharge.

An asset is an asset at the end of the day - curious to know why they said it would not need surrendering originally though.

I was told that because it was an endowment policy linked to my mortgage it would not be in the interests of the mortgage company to make me surrender it.
They have now said that they have contacted my mortgage company and they say its not connected but it is. I have a half repayment and half endowment mortgage, although the endowment was taken out when I orginally bought my first property 15 years ago and I have remortgaged three times since then.

If the policy is not assigned to the mortgage company, which is does not appear to be in your case, the regrettably the policy will have to be surrendered for the benefit of the bankruptcy estate.

Hi Guiness
I presume that you managed to keep your property in bankruptcy ? Can you let us know if that was a simple exercise or quite complex ?
Regards

Melanie is right. Not withstanding your discharge any asset that you had at the time of your bankruptcy belongs to your bankruptcy estate. If thee policy is not assigne to your mortgage company (you need to ascertain this) then regretably the OR will claim this from you.

I have never missed any mortgage payments and my husband is to buy out my half of the equity in the property. I went bankcrupt in April and received early discharge in October and I have heard nothing about the house as yet. The only problem is that when I had the house valued in May it was worth alot more than it is now so I'm not sure if there is an equity in the property now. Thanks for the advice, I will keep you updated

If the equity in the property has dissipated over this time, then that might work to your advantage.

Yes - get a new valuation and then get the OR to transfer for £1 your equitable interest back to you/your spouse

I think it normally works out at £211 to buy back your beneficial interest - £1 as David says for the BR and £210 for solicitors' costs.

Ah - I stand corrected. Thank you Skippy13