debts from england

[Mr Valentine]

Can debts from england be registered against your assets in france or canthey make you sell your assets to pay off your debts

[Val_2]

Without much info, it would depend I think, on the sort of debt you have. If you are thousands of pounds in debt then I would have thought YES they could go after any worldwide asset you own to recover those debts and if its the UK IR, they know all about your property abroad anyway. For a few hundred pounds I doubt anyone would want the bother considering it costs thousands of euros here to get anything to tribunal and takes years too.

[Val_2]

Actually just thinking back to when my sister and BIL registered for bankruptcy three years ago, they had to swear an afidavit on what they owned everywhere and to all assets so that those could be used as payment to creditors etc.They lost their UK home and the family car so anything else would have gone too.

[breizh]

[quote user="Mr Valentine"]Can debts from england be registered against your assets in france or canthey make you sell your assets to pay off your debts[/quote]

The simple answer is, probably Yes. Generally, if the creditor/s can find you, they can simply get the Judgement transferred to a French court for enforcement.

Then it gets very complicated. UK or foreign debt? Consumer or Corporate debt? Secured or unsecured? County Court or High Court? What is the status of the regime under which the property is registered in France?

I only deal with corporate debt litigation, so if it's consumer try someone else. If you provide more details I can be more specific with an answer. Please note our corporate policy is to persue all debtors, regardless of value, location, or personal circumstances. Very German.

[Mr Valentine]

House is in mine and my wifes name,debts are mainly from the collapse of business in england . Main debt probably over £25000 bank overdraft

[pachapapa]

There was a conference this spring attended by huissiers/bailiffs/debt recovery agencies etc to hone european procedures for debt recovery.

http://www.uihj.com/consultation-publique-le-5-avril-2011-a-la-commission-europeenne-sur-les-recours-collectifs_2149749.html

[NickP]

[quote user="Mr Valentine"]House is in mine and my wifes name,debts are mainly from the collapse of business in england . Main debt probably over £25000 bank overdraft[/quote]

Personally I don't understand how a business can go bust for £25000,  it can't have been a very large "business" ? So in my opinion, and this comes from someone who apart from a mortgage hasn't borrowed any money since 1967 ( new "hot" 1500 Beetle),  if you owe it pay it. If you borrowed against your house; that was your decision you obviously knew what you were doing at the time. Yes I am being a bit harsh, but people who dodge their debts cause other people to pay extra costs and I think that is very harsh.

[Sprogster]

I believe that within the EU it has become relatively straight forward and recently on the news there was a story about Spanish banks and developers succesfully enforcing debts in the UK against Spanish holiday home owners.

[Val_2]

Surely the accountant for the OP would know where he stands unless he is owed money too and therefore not interested. My BIL went bust for ten times that debt and as I said, they took everything they owned of value,even the house which had been re-mortgaged against the business but in a way it was their fault because they used a crap accountant who kept putting off them being a limited company.We have just taken out a small loan here in comparison to the OP and insurance against the business getting into trouble via illness or death was mandatory otherwise they will just reposess the vehicle in question.

[fisherman]

Mr Valentine.

I have been there. Customers disappearing, kept staff on longer than I should as there was always that job just around the corner. Eventually I had to close the doors and lay the staff off. I had a similar overdraft which for small businesses banks demand a personal guarantee. I also understand the stress you are under and you dread the post coming each morning to a point that you just can’t open those buff envelopes as you know what they will contain. I must admit that if you are a normal feeling person it does damage you inside.

Doing a flit is not the answer. It’s time to get your head on straight. My best advice is to re-mortgage your house and pay off the debt. To do anything else will almost certainly prevent you getting credit or even setting up a new business in the future. It is a relatively small amount and it is not worth damaging your future for it. If it was ten times that then perhaps evading the debt may have been the better option.

We had a word with our business banking manager and it was sorted out in an afternoon. After all it is in the banks interest at the end of the day. Take that route and the stress lifts from your shoulders. A bit of a nuisance having an additional mortgage but for that amount repayments won’t be too bad. To get it in perspective some people borrow that amount for a new car.