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janishere
Guest
Local Authorities Bankrupting Your Elderly Relatives
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sue38 said:janishere said:what is the situation for up to 2 years re bankruptcy Sue?/QUOTE]
Any transaction at undervalue where the person is in the next 2 years declared bankrupt may be open to attack. This is even if the person was not bankrupt at the time and had no reason to think that they would go bankrupt in the next two years.
Well Sue I was just asking you a question and you answered it and thanks.
Regarding your quote above, nothing wrong with it, but I wanted to add a bit more detail for the benefit of those who are worried that the Local Authority might try to make their elderly relative bankrupt for giving away their cash and property to their children or granchildren to protect it from theft by our dear local governments.
If an asset is gifted or conveyed at an undervalue (i.e. not for its full financial value at the time of the transaction) it can, in certain circumstances, be set aside by the trustee in bankruptcy.
The Five Year Limit - If the transaction was within five years of the bankruptcy petition being issued at court, it may be open to attack. The trustee in bankruptcy must prove however that the transaction was at an undervalue and that the individual was insolvent at the time of the transaction or became insolvent as a consequence of the transaction.
The Two Year Limit - if the transaction took place within two years of the bankruptcy petition being presented there is no need for the Trustee in Bankruptcy to show insolvency. Insolvency is presumed if the transaction was with "An Associate" (e.g. family member or friend)] This presumption is of course rebuttable[/i]. Insolvency is defined as an individual being unable to pay his/her debts as they fall due.
Now in most cases such a presumption would be easily rebuttable! The only thing the "Associates" (family members/friends) would have to do to rebut the presumption is to prove to the Bankruptcy Court that their elderly relative was not insolvent at the time of the transfer to he/she/them of the elderly relative's property or cash. If the elderly person had enough money of their own in income and capital left to pay off their usual bills, the Trustee in Bankruptcy would not succeed in claiming any money back from a transfer of property by the elderly relative to the Associates.
So most of you "Associates" have nothing to worry about unless your elderly relative was deeply in debt at the time.
I also think it will be quite difficult for Local Authorities to make an elderly person with AD bankrupt, which is why very few of them bother (as well as because they do not like the bad publicity). If the elderly person was put in a care home by their Local Authority without his or her valid consent (difficult to prove valid consent with AD sufferers) and the Nearest Relative/Main Carer also did not give consent either, and the nursing/residential home bills are the "debt" the Local Authority wants repaid (as is usually the case), the elderly AD sufferer and their relatives/carers can validly argue that there is no "debt" because there was compulsion used and no contract to pay fees was ever entered into by them or the elderly relative.
Yes well as I say that is why most LA's don't bother with expensive bankruptcy proceedings in this situation - a waste of local council taxpayer's money too, for which they would be accountable.
There are also too many elderly people out there wisely transferring their property and cash to their relatives - it would cost the local authorities a fortune in legal fees to chase them all up, whether they use bankruptcy or HASSASSA/common law as a tool to do so.
So my message to you all out there is FEAR NOT! you have every right to fight this unlawful government theft of your relatives' estates with every legal weapon at your disposal.
A final word. No one seems to have yet considered the effect of the use of human rights legislation as an assault on some of the bad laws made by this and previous British governments (including Conservative). The European Court of Human Rights is there for the use of all of us citizens and the various charities like Liberty and Human Rights Lawyers and we should use it.