Can I Travel Overseas While I Am Still Bankrupt?

For people in severe financial difficulties, declaring personal bankruptcy is a way to tackle debts, satisfy creditors and eventually make a debt-free, fresh start. An experienced, licensed insolvency starts the process by reviewing your finances. If personal bankruptcy is recommended, the IP or official receiver will act as the trustee to oversee the procedure.

A bankruptcy order must be obtained from the Insolvency Service, which grants this if they’re satisfied you cannot pay your debts on time. The trustee then sells personal assets to pay your creditors.

Legal Restrictions During Bankruptcy Proceedings

The bankruptcy order imposes several restrictions on your financial and business affairs.

These include limits relating to running a business or obtaining credit. It also prevents you from acting as a charity trustee, school governor, accountant or solicitor.

This ensures you fulfil all legal obligations and procedures, so your creditors receive everything owing, as far as this is possible.

Can You Travel Overseas If You Are Bankrupt?

The bankruptcy process takes approximately 12 months, so you may wonder can a bankrupt travel overseas? There are no specific restrictions on travel during this period. You could travel for a holiday, work or family emergency. However, there are several issues to consider.

Can You Still Meet Your Obligations?

Travel isn’t cheap and you must still meet your obligations to your creditors. If you’ve already paid for a holiday before declaring bankruptcy, travel is still permissible. However, if you’ve only put down a deposit (or nothing at all) you won’t have any spare funds to pay for your trip – you owe that money to your creditors.

Can Someone Else Pay?

Can a bankrupt travel overseas if they don’t pay? If someone pays for you in full, you could travel overseas – it isn’t illegal. However, you should inform your trustee. They may need you to be available to attend meetings and help with investigations.

Failure to Cooperate

There are serious consequences if you fail to comply with your obligations under the bankruptcy order. For example:

• Borrowing money you can’t repay.
• Favouring one creditor over another.
• Providing false information to the official receiver.
• Providing false information to obtain credit.
• Concealing assets or income.

In these circumstances, it’s likely the period of bankruptcy restrictions would be extended – potentially up to 15 years for serious transgressions. This severely affects your ability to pay your bills, save, run a business or obtain credit.

In this situation, can you travel overseas if you are bankrupt? Your trustee will be in control of your financial affairs during this entire period. Overseas travel is unlikely to be a priority when your debts remain. Although you won’t physically be stopped at the airport, it won’t help your situation if you’ve failed to comply with bankruptcy restrictions.

Avoiding Pitfalls

So, can a bankrupt travel overseas?

The short answer is yes, but it’ll hinder your recovery if done incorrectly. Always seek guidance from a licensed insolvency practitioner such as Irwin Insolvency.