The High Court extended Breda Webster’s bankruptcy by nine months after finding she had failed to disclose two assets to the Official Assignee: a €5,000 loan to her son in New Zealand and a car bought for €3,000 and given to another son in Ireland.
Ms Justice Costello ruled on an application under section 85A of the Bankruptcy Act 1988, which allows the court to postpone a bankrupt’s automatic discharge where assets have been hidden or not disclosed. She ordered the extension from 17 April 2017. Because that period had already elapsed, she said Webster was entitled to automatic discharge on the date of judgment, 5 February 2018.
The Official Assignee had sought to postpone her discharge, alleging that she failed to disclose assets that could benefit creditors. The court distinguished undisclosed assets from payments that had already been spent. It found that repayments of loans, legal costs, travel and other expenditure were not shown to be recoverable assets. A car Webster bought for herself was listed in her statement of affairs, despite having been purchased with money that could otherwise have gone towards debts.
Webster had received a pension lump sum of €72,460.34 in September 2015. The judgment said she should have reported it in a statement of personal information, which asked about payments from investment funds. It also noted that several payments over €5,000 had been left off that form. But the court’s established non-disclosure for the section 85A application was the two assets given to her sons, which together had a maximum value of €8,000 that might have been available to creditors.
The judge said the failures were neither wilful nor deliberate, and were not persistent. Webster had answered the Official Assignee’s initial queries promptly; she had no opportunity to respond to further queries before proceedings began. The court placed the breaches at the lighter end of the spectrum, while saying sanctions were needed to protect the integrity of the bankruptcy process.
The judgment separately raised concern about €28,203 in discretionary spending in the seven months before Webster petitioned for bankruptcy, including two car purchases and travel to her son’s wedding in New Zealand. The judge said that concern could not properly be considered in deciding the section 85A application and did not affect the order.