The Corporate Insolvency and Governance Bill is widely expected to become law within the next month or so. When it does, it will have an immediate and significant effect on the law relating to company insolvency. It does not change the law on personal insolvency.
The Bill is 238 pages long. Its provisions are complicated and highly technical. The purpose of this article is to give a concise summary of the main changes being implemented, for those who are not necessarily used to dealing with insolvency issues on a regular basis.
On 21 July 2016, an increase in the fees for bankruptcy and company insolvency came into force.
The new fees will apply to any petition which is lodged with the Adjudicator or filed with the court on or after 21 July 2016. The new fee structure will also apply to any bankruptcy order or compulsory winding up order made on or after this date.
The changes to existing fees and deposits are as follows:
From 1 October 2015 the minimum debt in respect of which a bankruptcy petition can be presented is increased to £5,000.
The following changes which came into effect on 1 October 2015 will be of interest to insolvency practitioners and other professionals who deal with insolvency law:
All insolvency officeholders will be concerned about the increased uncertainty created by the recent case Re Calibre Solicitors (In Administration) concerning challenges to their remuneration and expenses.
We welcome the Government’s announcement today that the insolvency exemption to the Jackson reforms will remain in place for the foreseeable future, although it will be reviewed later in the year.
Following the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders (LASPO) Act 2012, success fees under “No Win, No Fee” conditional fee agreements are generally no longer recoverable from opponents and neither are premiums under after the event (ATE) legal expenses insurance policies.
Is a pension pot beyond the reach of a trustee in bankruptcy? Conflicting High Court decisions reviewed below raise an interesting conflict between practical policy and strict technical interpretation
In both cases, the question was whether a trustee in bankruptcy can obtain an Income Payments Order (IPO) in respect of pension entitlements under a personal pension plan, where no election to draw the pension had been made prior to the Bankruptcy Order.
The Government has announced that from October 2015 it plans to increase the minimum threshold for creditors’ bankruptcy petitions from £750 to £5,000 and the maximum level of debt in respect of which a Debt Relief Order (“DRO”) can be obtained from £15,000 to £20,000.
It is now settled law that when an Administrator retains occupation of leasehold property on the basis that it will benefit of the company’s creditors, rent that relates to that period of occupation must be paid by the Administrator as an expense of the administration.
Anyone using arbitration clauses should note the Court of Appeal decision made on Monday 8 December, to the effect that a winding up petition is not automatically stayed because the petition debt arises from a contract containing a mandatory arbitration clause.
This important development could assist creditors enforcing strong claims against debtors incorporated in many offshore financial centres as well as in England.