The Courts and Civil Law (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2013 was signed into law by the President on 24 July 2013. While certain sections of the Act commenced immediately on its signing into law, other provisions have yet to be commenced by ministerial order.
A summary of the key changes brought about by the Act are set out below.
Increase in the Monetary Jurisdiction of District and Circuit Courts
The Act increases the monetary jurisdiction of:
The Personal Insolvency Act 2012 (the “PI Act”) was signed into law on 26 December 2012 and introduces significant changes to the personal insolvency regime in Ireland, as described in our previous client briefing concerning the PI Act (issued in December 2012 and available on our website). All provisions of the PI Act, other than Part 4 which relates to bankruptcy, have now been commenced and it is expected that debtors will shortly be able to avail of the new insolvency measures.
The Personal Insolvency Act 2012 was signed into law on 26 December 2012. The Act provides for the introduction of three new non-judicial debt settlement arrangements and reforms to the current bankruptcy legislation.
How will it impact on pensions?
Under the Bankruptcy Act 1988, the general rule is that all property “belonging” to a person adjudicated bankrupt on the date of adjudication vested in the Official Assignee. The extent to which this rule extended to pension assets depended on the type of pension vehicle the person being declared bankrupt participated in and the actual terms of the pension scheme or policy.
The 1988 Act has now been amended to include detailed and prescriptive provisions relating to the treatment of pension assets on bankruptcy.
The long awaited Personal Insolvency Bill (the "Bill") was published on Friday, 29 June 2012 and provides for significant changes to the personal insolvency regime in Ireland. However, it does not differ greatly from the general framework for personal insolvency reform published earlier this year. Some key points are as follows:
The proposed Personal Insolvency Bill, published on 25 January 2012, provides for significant changes to the personal insolvency regime in Ireland.
Introduction
The much anticipated Personal Insolvency Bill has been published and introduces wide-ranging measures to seek to deal with the issue of personal debt affecting many people in the country today. The headline changes are the reduction of the period a person is bankrupt from 12 to 3 years and the introduction of three new debt resolution processes which, while being under the jurisdiction of the Courts are predominantly non judicial based processes involving the newly established Insolvency Service.
The Civil Law (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2011 was signed into law by the President on 2 August 2011. The Act provides for certain provisions, concerning private security services, bankruptcy and family mediation services, to come into operation on such days as the Minister for Justice and Equality, by order, appoints. All other provisions of the Act came into force on 2 August.
The Act introduces a number of important reforms across a broad range of areas, including: