Terms of Business

The following standard terms of business apply to all personal insolvency and advisory engagements accepted by Minotaur Financial Services Limited and/or Karl O’Daly in their roles as a Personal Insolvency Practitioners.

It is important to note that the regulation by the Insolvency Service of Ireland  to the principal Karl O’Daly applies to him as a person not as a company. You the Debtor ultimately appoint the person to act for you in a Personal Insolvency Arrangement or Debt Settlement Arrangement.

You appoint the PIP as a person, the work is contracted with you through the company. You have ongoing responsibility to cooperate with both the PIP and the Company.

All work carried out is subject to these terms except where changes are expressly agreed in writing.

1. Professional Obligations

1.1. We will observe the Personal Insolvency Act 2012 – 2015, regulations and guidelines of the Insolvency Service of Ireland and accept instructions to act for you on the basis that we will act in accordance with those laws, regulations and guidelines.

1.2. Where you give us confidential information, we shall at all times keep it confidential, except as required by law or as provided for in regulatory, ethical or other professional pronouncements applicable to this engagement.

1.3. We reserve the right to act during this engagement for any other clients whose interests may be averse to yours. We will notify you immediately should we become aware of any conflict of interest to which we are subject in relation to you.

1.4 We commit and endeavour to work on your behalf on a “Best Efforts basis”. However, we cannot guarantee success in any proposal, negotiation or arrangement we seek on your behalf.

2. Disaster Recovery, Records and Documents

2.1. Whilst certain documents may legally belong to you, unless you tell us not to, we may destroy correspondence and other papers that we have held for more than 6 years after the termination or completion of the arrangement/relationship, other than documents which we consider to be of continuing significance. If you require retention of any document, you must tell us.

2.2. Our files may be subject to inspection by the Insolvency Service of Ireland, by a professional body or other regulators. We will provide officials and representatives of such bodies with information and explanations that they may reasonably require in accordance with their rights and powers. Such inspectors will normally be bound by the same requirements for confidentiality as our firm and staff.  

2.3 Electronically we retain your documents in your client file on Dropbox and on a OneDrive account. By retaining them in the cloud they are always in a backed-up state in the need of a Disaster Recovery situation.

2.4 Our hard drive and computer is protected by up to date anti-virus, spyware and firewall from a software provider. Your documents are secured in our office which is a secured premise.

2.5 In the event of my Incapacitation or inability to act under Section 49 (C) of the Act you are required to appoint a replacement PIP  of your own choice. Under Section 49 (C), 4 (a)  that appointment shall not affect the validity of anything previously done under this Chapter, Chapter 3 or Chapter 4, as the case may be, by the original personal insolvency practitioner .

2.6 We recommend that you contact John Donan PIP of Kirk & Associates on 042 932 6400 in the first instance but ultimately the choice of replacement PIP is your own.

3. Complaints Procedures

3.1. If at any time you would like to discuss with us how our service to you could be improved or if you are dissatisfied with the service you are receiving please let us know by contacting Karl O’ Daly at Office 315 3^rd Floor Ormond Building, 31-36 Ormond Quay Upper, Dublin 7

3.2. We undertake to look into any concerns promptly and to do all we can to explain the position to you. If we have given you a less than satisfactory service, we undertake to do everything reasonable to put it right. If you feel that our efforts have not been sufficient to remedy the situation having exhausted our complaints procedure, you may complain directly to the Insolvency Service of Ireland (in relation to Personal Insolvency services) please see section 178 of the Act for further details.

4. Applicable Law

4.1. This engagement letter is governed by and is construed in accordance with Irish Law. The Courts of Ireland will have exclusive jurisdiction in relation to any claim, dispute or difference concerning this engagement letter and any matter arising from it. Each party irrevocably waives any right it may have to object to any action being brought in those courts, to claim that the action has been brought in an inappropriate forum, or to claim that those courts do not have jurisdiction.

5. Electronic Communication

5.1. We may communicate with you by email. As with other means of delivery, this carries with it the risk of inadvertent misdirection of non-delivery. The recipient is responsible for carrying out a virus check on attachments.

5.2. Internet communications are capable of data corruption and therefore we do not accept any responsibility for changes made to such communications after their despatch. It may therefore be inappropriate to rely on advice contained in an email without obtaining written confirmation of it. We do not accept responsibility for any errors or problems that may arise through the use of internet communications and all risks connected with sending commercially sensitive information relating to your business are borne by you. If you do not agree to accept this risk, you should notify us in writing that email is not an acceptable means of communication.

6. Data Protection & Retention Policies

Our policies are extensive as they have to be as a matter of law. They are detailed and can be found at www.minotaur.ie. You agree to be bound by them before the provision of our services so please take your time to read and understand them.

6.1 We are required under Section 170 of the Personal Insolvency Act 2012-2015 to retain your information, data and records for a period of 6 years 6 years after the completion of the activity to which the record relates if we are appointed to act for you.

6.2 Notwithstanding this legislative provision, the company adopts a higher standard in 6.1, It is company policy to retain all data and records in relation to you for 6 years at the cessation of the relationship once we provide written advice to you in relation to your financial affairs in accordance with section 52 of the Act.

6.3 Should you send us your information in an enquiry or as part of a process in gathering background information using our case management system or any other means that data may not be retained in the following circumstances;

• where the required information has not been provided in full as requested
• no meeting has taken place and will not take place,as required under the act
• or the relationship or proposed engagement terminated by either party.

 In such circumstances we reserve the right to delete your records from our systems and tools.

7. Advice

7.1. The advice that we give relates and is understood to be solely for Personal Insolvency & Bankruptcy Services. The advice is to you is for your sole use and does not constitute advice to any third party to whom you may communicate it. We accept no responsibility to third parties for any aspect of our professional services or work that is made available to them.

7.2. A person or company who is not a party to this engagement letter has no rights under contract law to enforce any term of this engagement. 

7.3 We do not give Tax Advice as we are not qualified to do. Should you require Tax advice that is something you should seek independently from a Tax Professional or accountant. This will be particularly important if you have had Section 23 Properties which may be subject to VAT upon Sale.

7.4 We do not give Legal advice as we are not qualified to do so. Should you require Legal advice that is something you should seek that independently from a Solicitor.

8. Limitation of Liability

8.1. We will provide our professional services with reasonable care and skill. However, we will not be held responsible for any losses arising from the supply by you or others of incorrect or incomplete information, or you or others failure to supply any appropriate information or your failure to act on our advice or respond promptly to communications from us or other relevant authorities.

8.2. You agree to indemnify us against any misrepresentation, whether intentional or unintentional, supplied to us orally or in writing in connection with this agreement. You have agreed that you will not bring any claim in connection with services provided to you by the firm against any of our employees on a personal basis.

9. Money Laundering Regulations

9.1. As with other professional services firms, we are required to identify our clients for the purposes of Anti Money Laundering Legislation. We may request from you, and retain, such information and documentation as we require for these purposes and/or make searches of appropriate databases. That’s why we request a lot of documentation from you!! If you proceed with a PIA or DSA we will need Photo ID and a Current utility bill or Bank statement dated within 6 months.

10. Client Money

10.1 We may hold money on your behalf in providing services as a Personal Insolvency Practitioner and administrating a Debt Settlement Arrangement or Personal Insolvency Arrangement on your behalf. The money will be held in a “Debtor DSA or PIA Account”, which is segregated from the firm’s funds. The accounts will be operated, and all funds dealt with, in accordance with Debtor Bank Account Regulations issued by the Insolvency Service of Ireland.

10.2 We will reconcile the account regularly as part of our function is to ensure your payments being made into the arrangement are kept up to date.

11. Confidentiality

11.1. Communication between us is confidential and we take all reasonable steps to keep confidential your information except where we are required to disclose it by law or by regulatory bodies.

11.2. If your files are no longer necessary, we will shred them using a secured service.

12. Conflicts of Interest

12.1. We will inform you if we become aware of any conflict of interest in our relationship. Where conflicts are identified which cannot be managed in a way that protects your interest or could be perceived to affect our integrity or objectivity then we regret that we will be unable to provide further services.

13. Your Responsibilities

13.1. You are responsible for making available to us, as and when required, all of the relevant records and information that are necessary for the compilation of any reports or applications. You will make full disclosure to us of all relevant information.

 13.2. You are responsible for both the accuracy and completeness of the information supplied to us. You are responsible for approving and signing any reports or applications.

13.3. We have a professional responsibility not to allow our name to be associated with information which may be misleading. Should we become aware, for any reason, that the information provided may be misleading; we will discuss the matter with you with a view to agreeing appropriate adjustments and/or disclosures. In circumstances where adjustments and/or disclosures that we consider appropriate are not made or where we are not provided with appropriate information, we will withdraw from the engagement. We may also be required to terminate your arrangement immediately if the information provided in your proposal or arrangement turns out to be significantly incomplete or inaccurate in a material omission or stated fact. Should this situation occur our fees for the work performed so far will be payable on presentation of our fee note.

14. Outsourcing

14. We may outsource some work to third parties for the ongoing management and preparation of your arrangement and provision of initial advice to you. At present we are required to have two person to operate a client money account. We are delegating some authority to Roslynn Doherty of BHFF Ltd Trading as Financial Foundation you perform part of those tasks. The duties will be the monitoring of accounts, the issuance of invoices, set up of payments and reconciliation of payments.

14.2 The Scope of our outsourcing may be extended to include administrative services, case management and initial Debtor onboarding. Such an extension may occur without notice to you. There are a number of activities which will never be outsourced as the PIP personally is required to undertake them.

14.3 If we outsource any activity whomever we outsource to will be obligated to strict confidentiality and abide by our data protection policies with respect to your data.

15.  Personal Insolvency Abhaile Scheme

15.1 We also accept Abhaile Vouchers where you will receive a consultation in person and receive written financial advice under the scheme. We will assist you completing your Prescribed Financial Statement This Scheme is specifically targeted at those at risk of losing their home and who want to explore possibility of personal Insolvency arrangement.

If you are using your Abhaile voucher, then there is no charge for your consultation in the normal course, however we do request that you return the required information in a timely manner such that we are in a position to promptly advise you. If the information requested is not forthcoming, we reserve the right to terminate the engagement. There will be no fee for the Consultation. The consultation happens once we received all the required information and supporting documentation requested.  If you require a letter for Court or a letter to petition for Bankruptcy, there will be no fees for such letters.

Should costs issues arise where the PIP feels an additional fee is justified, which are not in the normal course, they will be discussed with the administrators of the Abhaile Scheme for approval prior to being sought from you.

Any other Fees payable, will be taken as agreed as proceeds from the arrangement once approved by Court.

16. Fees and Payment Terms

The basis under which our fees are governed and are recoverable are set out under S.I. No. 209/2013 – Personal Insolvency Act 2012 (Authorisation and Supervision of Personal Insolvency Practitioners) Regulations 2013

16.1 Here is an indicative outline of our fees, some fees may need to be partially paid in advance if you are not on the Abhaile Scheme. The Fees will be detailed in your proposal which is submitted on your behalf.

16.2 Should your arrangement be approved by a Court and you default on the arrangement leading to its termination, we reserve the right to recover any fees under the arrangement.

Fees and Payment Terms

16.3 The following categories are used by this firm as a basis for the analysis of time expended by grade of staff:

Private Consultation €250 per hour inclusive of VAT

In an arrangement PIP/Director €250 per hour plus vat

Time is recorded through our database and document management system and charge out rates are reviewed annually and are subject to change without prior notice.

Letters for Court and Creditors €150 plus VAT*

Our standard initial and ongoing management fees for insolvency arrangements are as follows:

Debt Settlement Arrangement (DSA):

Single initial – €3,250 plus vat at the applicable rate plus annual outlays.

Joint initial – €5,000 plus vat at the applicable rate plus annual outlays.

Interlocking initial – €5,750 plus vat at the applicable rate plus annual outlays

Personal insolvency arrangement (PIA):

Single initial – €3,250 plus vat at the applicable rate plus annual outlays.

Joint initial – €5,000 plus vat at the applicable rate plus annual outlays.

Interlocking initial – €5,750 plus vat at the applicable rate plus annual outlays

Protective Certificate Extensions € 750 per application plus outlays

Ongoing management fees: For the operation of both DSA’s and PIA’s are as follows: Up to a maximum of €100 per month plus vat plus outlays.

Outlays will include, but are not limited to, additional administration time, bank charges, Court costs, postage costs, mileage for travel, case management systems costs and other miscellaneous costs.

Variation Fees detailed as per proposal.

Sale of Arrangement Assets detailed as per proposal.

Bankruptcy:  To be advised and agreed on an ad hoc basis.

Should we get an arrangement approved by the Court and you fail to keep to the arrangement or refuse the fees levied in the proposal will be fully recoverable.