Bankruptcy Law Reform
- Indemnities under s 117 Bankruptcy Act
See under Corporate Law Reform and the request from Treasury for the IPA's views on whether the law should be amended to make the treatment of indemnities consistent with the treatment of contracts of insurance in a winding up under section 562 Corporations Act . The same issue arises in relation to the equivalent Bankruptcy Act... Read More »
- Bankruptcy Law Reform
The Attorney General's media release Proposed Bankruptcy Changes (23 July 2004). House of Representatives Standing Committee on Legal and Constitutional Affairs media release (21 May 2004). Inquiry into the Bankruptcy Legislation Amendment (Anti-Avoidance and Other Measures) Bill 2004 ... Read More »
- Bankruptcy remuneration paper - IPA submission
IPA’s submission to the Attorney-General’s Department on the bankruptcy remuneration paper dated 29 January 2010 is enclosed . It says: There is too much emphasis on communicating details of remuneration claims with creditors, which comes at a cost to creditors. We refer to the regime in the IPA Code as a preferable approach. For... Read More »
- Proposed Amendments to the Bankruptcy Act (June 2009)
The Attorney-General’s Department has released a discussion paper, the text of which is below, in relation to some possible amendments to the Bankruptcy Act. The reform issues involve: extension of the 7 day moratorium to 28 days; a maximum bankruptcy period of 12 months for first time bankrupts... Read More »
- New form of bankruptcy notice - for comment
The proper completion of a Bankruptcy Notice, which is currently an 8 page form, is often the subject of litigation. ITSA is in the process of redesigning the Bankruptcy Notice to make it a shorter and simpler document for the applicant creditor as well as the recipient debtor. The Attorney-General’s Department is also considering associated changes to the... Read More »
- New bankruptcy regulations
5.8.10: Bankruptcy Amendment Regulations 2010 (No. 1) have come into effect from 1 August 2010 . The amendments can be viewed at Comlaw. While most of us would have been aware of the new Bankruptcy Notice form being introduced, you may not have been aware of some of the other amendments that are likely... Read More »
- Bankruptcy Legislation Amendment Bill 2009 - remuneration and penalties changes
The government has released a list of the legislation proposed for introduction into Federal Parliament during the forthcoming Autumn 2009 sittings. The list includes the Bankruptcy Legislation Amendment Bill which the government says will: - streamline the operation of offences under the Bankruptcy Act 1966 ; update... Read More »
- Recent IPA submissions - Productivity Commission; Bankruptcy Regulations
4.8.10: The IPA comments on the draft Productivty Commission report on the need to align personal and corporate insolvency laws is enclosed . We will monitor the progress of the final report. The IPA submission on the draft bankruptcy regulations is also enclosed . It represents the views of the IPA and many of... Read More »
- Senate Committee Bankruptcy Report - increase to $10,000 recommended
The Senate Committee has recommended that the Senate pass this Bill in full, including the increase in the bankruptcy threshold to $10,000. The three key amendments examined during the course of the Senate inquiry are as follows: increasing the minimum debt for a creditor's petition, and a bankruptcy notice, to $10,000; increasing... Read More »
- Bankruptcy Law Amendment Bill 2009 - IPA submission
The IPA's comments on the Bankruptcy Law Amendment Bill 2009 are contained in the enclosed letter from the IPA dated 15 September 2009. As the letter says, the IPA has made detailed submissions on offences (2007), remuneration (2008), and more recently, in June 2009, on proposed changes to the period of bankruptcy and other threshold... Read More »
- Bankruptcy penalties on trustees and creditors - the proposed regime
The Exposure Draft of the Bankruptcy Legislation Amendment Bill 2009 introduces new offence provisions and penalties, not only on debtors and bankrupts, but also on creditors (often through their lawyers) and trustees, in relation to non or late filing of documents with ITSA. The penalties are generally set at 1 or 2 penalty units - one... Read More »
- Bankruptcy Legislation Amendment Act 2010 - commencement dates
26.7.10: The Bankruptcy Legislation Amendment Act 2010 brings significant changes to several aspects of personal insolvency law under the Bankruptcy Act. The following table shows the relevant changes and their commencement date. Attorney-General's is inviting submissions on the draft remuneration regulations. See the IPA website. ... Read More »
- Bankruptcy threshold set at $5000 - IPA recommendation accepted
The Bankruptcy Legislation Amendment Bill 2009 was passed by the Senate on 24 June 2010. The government moved the following amendments which were agreed to by the Senate: - The threshold for bankruptcy notices and creditors petitions will be increased from $2000 to $5000 (rather than $10,000 as originally proposed), - ... Read More »
- Bankruptcy Legislation Amendment Bill 2009
The Bankruptcy Legislation Amendment Bill 2009 was today - 28 October - introduced into Parliament. According to the Attorney-General the Bill will implement "significant reforms" to Australia’s personal insolvency laws. The Bill "seeks to modernise personal insolvency arrangements by recognising that the majority of bankruptcies relate to consumer debts and involve people... Read More »
- Replacing a trustee who has died
A long time member of the IPA, Mr David Watson, recently died. The Official Trustee automatically became trustee of his bankrupt estates under s 160 of the Bankruptcy Act. However it was more convenient that those estates remain in the firms of Mr Watson where they had been handled. There were no funds in the... Read More »
- Proposed combined federal family court
The Attorney-General Robert McClelland has released a report and discussion paper for public comment on improvements to the delivery of family law services by Australia’s federal courts. The report, Future Governance Options for Federal Family Law Courts in Australia. Among the report’s key recommendations is the creation of a single federal family... Read More »