www.iva.co.uk

Ok. Dilemma here. My wife and I are about to start year 4 of our iva
A while back my brother who is an Australian citizen died and left me some money from his estate.now,I know I am morally and legally obliged to declare it but the thought of giving away his hard earned is making me ill. I am already 9 tenths sure I will declare it but my wife is putting me under tremendous pressure to 'keep it and say now to cheque would be issued in my name but I have no bank account all our finances are ran through the wife's so I would need to open an account yeah. If my sister who is also an Australian national cashed the cheque which is allowable I'n australia and wired such monies to my son's account. Would my supervisor find out about such a windfall and if so what are the possible consequences

You have an obligation to report all windfalls once you become aware and the funds will be used to improve the dividend to creditors. Failure to do so is a criminal offence and you could go to jail. I can understand how you feel as it was your brother's money and not your own but there is little that can be done.

It may be worth speaking to the solicitor handling the estate as sometimes wills are written to protect the funds from being grabbed by an insolvent beneficiary's creditors. If this is the case the money may be protected but if not it must be handed over. You should notify your IP immediately regardless and they can liaise with the solicitor in Australia.

Honesty is required in this ...ultimately failure to disclose but later comes to light may cause iva failure - not worth it ...use it to pay towards the 100% of original debt plus IP fees and if sufficient to clear spend the balance!

Consider the consequences of not declaring it and it all coming out at a later date and the resulting criminal record.

Is it worth it?

Paul

O.k honesty is the best policy ! BUT .... How can/could they find out if Tom.49 doesn't tell them, as his annual reviews etc are based on his wife's bank account ? So if he did open a bank account in his name would the IVA company do a random credit check on him to see if he had any other accounts in his name ?

A credit check is a possibility if the IP gets wind of anything amiss or another account might get unearthed during a search for PPI (these claims companies appear to be able to spirit information from thin air!).

Stuff does have a habit of surfacing at unexpected times and from unexpected sources.

There is also the possibility of someone reporting this but regardless it should be declared.

If Tom is self employed and has a tax investigation, they will definitely find it!