CAN I BE SEQUESTRATED AT ANY TIME?
No, there are certain conditions to being sequestrated and these are:
- you must owe at least £1500; and one or more of your creditors must have taken you to court to enforce or demand you to repay a debt: or
- you must have been on a debt payment programmeunder DAS that has been revoked and one of the creditors in the DPP has been to court and obtained a decree on one of the debts.
The technical term for these situations is that you are 'apparently insolvent'.
You will be apparently insolvent if any of these apply to you.
- If a creditor goes to court and gets a decree on your debt, and a 'Charge for payment' of that debt (14 days' notice) has run out without you paying.
- A government department or local authority has been to court to get a summary warrant against you to recover rates, Council Tax, other taxes and so on and some of your goods have been attached (or someone has tried to attach them) to the order and 14 days have passed.
- You have been served with a 'statutory demand for payment' (21 days' notice) and you have not paid it in the time limit.
These are the main ways in which you can be sequestrated. However, creditors can take other legal action to recover debts which might also make you 'apparently insolvent'. If you have any doubts, ask for help from one of the advisory organisations listed on page 33 or call our helpline. We produce a booklet - AiB6 - that explains 'apparent insolvency' in more detail.