The Bankruptcy (Scotland) Act 2016 (the “Act”) received Royal Assent on 28 April 2016 and is expected to come into force by the end of the year.

The Act is only the second piece of primary consolidation legislation to have passed through the Scottish Parliament and brings together the various laws on personal insolvency into a single piece of legislation.

At the moment, the law is rather unwieldy and difficult to follow in practice.

Philip Jones explains that recent cases have confirmed the need for insolvency office holders, and those appointing them, to take great care to ensure that the appointments are valid.

As was described in our article Invalid Liquidation Appointments the appointment of an insolvency office holder can be fraught with difficulties.