www.iva.co.uk

I completed my IVA in November last year, after making all 60 payments as requested and it was completed successfully. I received my Certificate of completion shortly after and thought that it was all over. However, I was contacted this week by someone from the IP saying that they had been contacted by someone acting as an Official Receiver, and they had contacted them saying they had a claim on my IVA. When I eventually collapsed under a mountain of debt nearly 6 years ago now, I also had a ltd company which was put into compulsary liquidation as it stopped trading due to me being unable to work and because the company owed money to Customs and Excise. The official receiver is now claiming that money was owed personally by me in tax due to outstanding directors loans paid to me by the ltd company. They are claiming that there should have been a 12K claim in my IVA for this. I complied fully with the OR when the company went into liquidation and they had full details of my IVA. In 2007 the OR asked for some information from my accountant which was provided and since then neither I or the IP heard anything more until now. Sorry for the long explanation, but does anyone have any experience of this situation and can anyone tell me where I stand on this, with regard to the IVA being completed and someone making a claim now? Thanks, Joe.

I would go back to your IP - surely the OR should have put his claim in at the correct time and in not doing so it is now too late???

Hi
I would think that this would be covered by your IVA and the debt null and void.
Wait for Melanie Giles's expert opinion on this
Regards

OK, Thanks Andy, I will wait til Melanie passes by and see what she has to say.

I agree with Andy that it should be covered.#

I'm sure Mel will be along later.

I agree it should be fine...wait for Mel, though I imagine she's been to the rugby today [:)]

Sorry for the delay - Julie was right in that I have been at the rugby all day today.

This is a complex situation as it appears that you have a claim against you for an overdrawn loan account in a limited company you were a director of which entered into insolvent liquidation.

This claim could have been properly included into your IVA, and if your IP was aware of the potential for a claim from the OR they should have sorted this out before they distributed further monies or certainly before the case was closed.

If the OR's claim is valid, you could find yourself obliged to pay over the same dividend that they would have received in the event that their claim was properly made at the right time - but I suggest you engage a good lawyer to defend this for you as the OR may simply withdraw the claim on grounds of commerciality.

Hi Melanie, thank you for the reply and if I understand you correctly you are saying that I, personally, may have to pay the OR the dividend which the OR would have received were the claim have originally been included in the IVA? I am shocked by this, and feel that the IP should have sorted this out as they were fully aware of the situation with the Limited company. In your opinion would I have grounds for litigation against the IP for negligence in handling my case? You mentioned getting a lawyer if the OR pursue me personally for the claim that should have gone into the IVA, how am I supposed to pay for a good lawyer, I have just finished an IVA?. I have no money to pay for lawyers? And what really annoys me most, is that the IP took 30k in fees for managing my IVA over the 5 years. Is there a professional body that I can register a complaint with, about the service provided to me by the IP?

Hi
I do think that you have a case against your IP. They should not have concluded your IVA had there been an ongoing creditor claim. Also the money that you had paid in to the IVA should be distributed between all your creditors, including this outstanding one. The reality is that your other creditors should have received a lower dividend allowing fot the dividend to the new creditor.
Regards

Why should JJside have to take any action when its clearly the IP at fault??

Paul

Whoa guys!! None of us know the full facts of this case - and before we start running off making complaints against insolvency practitioners I thing that JJside ought to discuss this sensibly with his IP - to determine why the IP took no heed of the claim.

Unfortunately in a lot of areas where there are diputes, there may well be the need to take legal advice, but perhaps JJside could get the IP to at least pay for a short legal opinion. At the end of the directors overdrawn loan accounts are illegal, all resposible directors should be aware of this, and this claim should have been properly included into the IVA in the first place.

It may be that the IP has to share some of the blame for how this situation has arisen, but sensible discussion and negotiation in the first instance usually helps to resolve disputes in a satisfactory manner.

Well here is an update on this situation nearly 2 years on. I spoke to my IP 2 years ago and they said not to worry and that they would sort this out and I have heard nothing since from anyone - until yesterday when I received a letter from a debt collector acting for the liquidator, asking me for £8k immediately. It transpires that there was 5K being held by the IP that had not been distributed to the creditors as the total creditor claims in my IVA were 5K less than the original proposal unsecured creditors total and therefore there was a surplus of 5K on the money I paid into the IVA. And this 5K has all been distributed to the Liquidator without my knowledge - I have had no contact from the Liquidator or my IP in the last 2 years until now. So now I am left with a debt of 8K which should have been included in the IVA. How can the IP pay the 5K to the Liquidator and leave me with the 8K debt? If they have done that, then that seems to me that they are accepting the debt should have been included in the IVA? I haven't got 8K, I am only just getting myself back on my feet after the IVA. This is the same IP who took nearly 30K in fees on a debt of 105K ( the creditors only got 33K!) and claimed they spent 300 hours working on my IVA which was hardly a complicated IVA and I only had contact once a year from the IP for Income and Expenditure which hardly changed over the life of my IVA - pity just one of those 300 hours wasn't spent determining if I owed anything to the Liquidators - they were fully aware I was the sole director of a failed company - and they were definately contacted by the Liquidator before the IVA was completed. I am not disputing the debt, I took more money out of the company in dividends than I should have, but I really do feel that I have been badly let down by the IP as this could and should have been included in the IVA. Any advice on my next move would be appreciated please

It sounds like you need to take further legal advice. I can't understand why this has dragged on for two years - but yu need to take charge and get it sorted once and for all. No-one else seems to be interested in drawing this to a close.

There most definately seems to be a breakdown in communciations here between the IP firm and yourself, and I think that you should arrange a meeting with them for them to explain what has been happening since they closed your case. IPs can still act as Trustee of the funds they are still holding post closure, but it is usually better to resolve all outstanding issues before ceasing to act as Supervisor. It is clearly time that this long running matter was resolved once and for all - and if you get no luck it may be time to refer to the IPs regulators to investigate on your behalf.

Thank you for your reply Melanie - I will initiate a meeting with the IP to discover what has happened in the last 2 years since my case was closed. If I do need to refer to the IP's regulators, who would I contact and how would I go about that? Thanks, Joe