Victoria's Court of Appeal has reaffirmed the risk that a disclaimer of property may be set aside where the liquidators are indemnified, and the need for liquidators to be mindful where the company holds contaminated property.
Ruby Apartments held the management rights to 242 serviced apartments in Ruby One Tower, Surfers Paradise, when Receivers were appointed on 1 August 2019.The Receivers were appointed by a secured creditor one day after Ruby Apartments had appointed an administrator. Ruby Apartments was part of the Ralan Group.
The Receivers carried on the business of apartment manager until 30 September 2019, when they sold the business as a going concern to a third party purchaser.
This week’s TGIF considers a recent decision of the Federal Court of Australia in Re Aviation 3030 Pty Ltd (in liq) [2021] FCA 1244 on section 477(2B) of the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth) (Corporations Act) and approval of a liquidator’s proposal to enter into a settlement agreement with obligations that extend beyond three months.
Key Takeaways
In this article, I observe that insolvencies in the Queensland construction industry have remained at the same concerning level for years and I ask:
Will Statutory Trusts result in a reduction?
We will only know the answer to this question with certainty after the complete rollout is finished in 2023 but in the meantime, some steps can be taken today to control the risks associated with Trusts Compliance. In this article I consider:
It is now over 6 years since the Full Federal Court handed down its decision in the appeal case of Di Cioccio v Official Trustee in Bankruptcy (as Trustee of the Bankrupt Estate of Di Cioccio) [2015] FCAFC 30 (Cioccio). The Australian Financial Security Authority recently revisited the Cioccio decision in light of a number of subsequent decisions.
Part 1: A Broad Overview of Bankruptcy
‘As privileged professionals, who live by the words of the English language, lawyers have a special duty to be clear in what they say and write’
When discussing any area of law, precision is essential.
A common source of confusion amongst both lawyers and the public generally is the difference between insolvency and bankruptcy. Though you may see the terms being used interchangeably (especially in legal dramas), the two concepts are distinct.
A Practical Guide to Bankruptcy:
Part 1: A Broad Overview of Bankruptcy
‘As privileged professionals, who live by the words of the English language, lawyers have a special duty to be clear in what they say and write’[1]
When discussing any area of law, precision is essential.
The new 2021 year brought in various changes to insolvency laws, which included the introduction of the Small Business Restructuring (SBR) process to assist small businesses in restructuring their debts. This new regime provides an opportunity for eligible small businesses which are financially distressed, but otherwise viable, to continue trading into 2021 and beyond. However, a question that we have recently been faced with is whether a company that is a corporate trustee of a trust, also known as a trustee company, is able to avail itself of the SBR process.
The court’s power to overturn the decisions of insolvency practitioners in a company’s external administration was highlighted in the recent case of Tuscan Capital Partners Pty Ltd v Trading Australia Pty Ltd (in liq), in the matter of Trading Australia Pty Ltd (in liq) (Proof of Debt) [2021] FCA 1061 (Tuscan).