Hi Silvio
I don't understand your argument.
On the date of your bankruptcy you had assets and liabilities. The assets should be sold to pay your liabilities. One of your assets is your pension fund. Of course, it should be sold or cashed to pay your liabilities. Your creditors should not get stung while you walk away with a valuable asset.
I do not understand why people want to treat the pension fund differently from other investments. If it were protected, then people who were in financial difficulty could stuff their pension fund instead of paying their creditors.
You tagged your family home question onto a Key Post, so it got missed. I don't know the answer but I have suggested that you ask your bankruptcy advisor as it's a very interesting question.
Brendan
Hi Brendan,
Sorry about the key post tagging on the house post (accidental, new poster etc..).
Friel Stafford have definitely written stuff on the equity built up while non bankrupt alone paid mortgage so perhaps Jim Stafford might have a comment on it?
Anyway to stay with the subject matter please see below.
Let's not get bogged on whether logically or even morally pensions should or shouldn't be included, we will be here till doomsday.
The simple fact is that we were all led to believe it would be excluded and almost all bullet point analysis by commentators pointed to pensions being excluded in the new legislation.
The potential abuse you mention of someone facing financial problems and stacking his pension in the years prior to bankruptcy is more than adequately fenced off in the new legislation so that's a non issue
In fact the legislation specifically dealing with abuse by stuffing your pension fund pre bankruptcy shows the spirit of the legislation did not intend to pursue pensions in bankruptcy.
Why create legislation to fence something off if that asset (pension) is to be taken anyway?
But that's the nub of it.
Pensions are excluded, for most!
If you are in a scheme and continuing to pay in, you are safe and it can’t be touched.
If you have left or lost a job and your pension was put in a PRB or any other vehicle (the standard format for your pension contributions on leaving/losing employment) then a massively unfair anomaly in the legislation appears
If you are 47 years or older on date of adjudication, your pension will be taken off you.
If you are 46 years and 364 days or younger, not one cent of your pension can be touched.
I'm sorry but that is unfair.