Articles by author
Debt relief moratoria: important issues for creditors
The Debt Respite Scheme (Breathing Space Moratorium and Mental Health Crisis Moratorium) (England and Wales) Regulations 2020/1311 (the Regulations), which were made under s 7 Financial Guidance and Claims Act 2018, created two types of debt relief moratorium:
(i) the breathing space moratorium, providing short term relief to debtors to enable them to obtain debt advice; and
(ii) the mental health crisis moratorium, providing relief to debtors undergoing a mental health crisis.
A moratorium affords the debtor far-reaching protection by significantly restricting the rights of affected creditors during the lifetime of the moratorium, most notably the right to take enforcement action.
There have now been a number of cases considering the Regulations but, as this article explains, aspects of their operation are ill-defined, and their scope remains uncertain in important ways. This article identifies the contentious and problematic elements of the Regulations and surveys the case law.
Enforcing judgments against pension assets: a developing jurisdiction
In Blight v Brewster [2012] EWHC 165 (Ch) the court implemented an innovative procedure enabling a judgment creditor to enforce against the debtor’s pension fund. Blight has been followed in a trio of reported decisions handed down in 2022, which examined particular aspects of the procedure and its application in specific circumstances, further establishing the jurisdiction and helping to delimit its boundaries.
1 MAR 2023
