Bankruptcy Act - Australia

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If a registered trustee is the trustee of the estate of a person who becomes a bankrupt under this section, the Official Receiver must:

      (a) notify the trustee of the bankruptcy; and

      (b) give the trustee a copy of each statement of affairs that accompanied the debtor’s petition.

      56F Extra duties of non-petitioning partners who become bankrupts

      (1) A member of a partnership who did not join in presenting a debtor’s petition against the partnership but became a bankrupt as a result of the acceptance of the petition must give the Official Receiver:

      (a) a statement of the member’s affairs; and

      (b) a statement of the affairs of the partnership;

      within 14 days after the day that the member was notified of his or her bankruptcy.

      Penalty: 25 penalty units.

      (1A) Subsection (1) is an offence of strict liability.

      Note: For strict liability, see section 6.1 of the Criminal Code.

      (1B) Subsection (1) does not apply if the member has a reasonable excuse.

      Note: A defendant bears an evidential burden in relation to the matter in subsection (1B) (see subsection 13.3(3) of the Criminal Code).

      (2) A member of a partnership complies with paragraph (1) (b) if the member and at least one other member of the partnership who did not join in presenting the petition against the partnership jointly give the Official Receiver a statement of the affairs of the partnership.

      (3) A member of a partnership who must give statements of affairs to the Official Receiver under subsection (1) must give copies of the statements to the trustee in the member’s bankruptcy.

      56G Inspection of statements of affairs of partners and partnerships

      (1) A person may inspect, obtain a copy of, or take extracts from, any statement of affairs that was given to the Official Receiver in connection with a debtor’s petition against a partnership.

      (2) Before inspecting, obtaining a copy of or taking extracts from a statement, the person must pay the fee determined by the Minister by legislative instrument, unless:

      (a) the person states in writing that he or she is a creditor of the partnership or of a member of the partnership who became a bankrupt as a result of the petition; or

      (aa) the person is a member of the partnership who became a bankrupt as a result of the petition; or

      (b) the person is an agent of a person described in paragraph (a) or (aa).

      (3) A person who has become a bankrupt by force of section 56E may, without fee and either personally or by an agent:

      (a) inspect any statement of affairs that accompanied the petition; and

      (b) obtain a copy of, or make extracts from, any statement of affairs that accompanied the petition.

      (4) If the approved form for a statement of affairs indicates that particular information in the statement will not be made available to the public, then the Official Receiver must ensure that the information is not made available under this section to any person (other than a member of the partnership who became a bankrupt as a result of the petition or an agent of such a member).

      (5) The Official Receiver may refuse to allow a person access under this section to particular information in a statement of affairs on the ground that access to that information would jeopardise, or be likely to jeopardise, the safety of any person.

      57 Debtor’s petition by joint debtors who are not partners

      (1) Where joint debtors are not in partnership with one another, the debtors, or any 2 or more of the debtors, may present to the Official Receiver a petition jointly against themselves.

      (2) A petition under this section shall be in accordance with the approved form and shall be accompanied by:

      (a) a statement of affairs of each of the petitioning debtors;

      (b) a statement of their joint affairs; and

      (c) a copy of each of those statements.

      (2A) The Official Receiver must reject a debtor’s petition unless, at the time when the petition is presented, each petitioning debtor:

      (a) was personally present or ordinarily resident in Australia; or

      (b) had a dwelling-house or place of business in Australia; or

      (c) was carrying on business in Australia, either personally or by means of an agent or manager; or

      (d) was a member of a firm or partnership carrying on business in Australia by means of a partner or partners or of an agent or manager.

      (3) The Official Receiver may reject a debtor’s petition if:

      (a) the petition does not comply substantially with the approved form; or

      (b) the petition is not accompanied by all the statements of affairs required by subsection (2); or

      (c) the Official Receiver thinks that any of the statements of affairs accompanying the petition is inadequate.

      (3AA) The Official Receiver may reject a debtor’s petition (the current petition) if the following conditions are satisfied for at least one of the petitioning debtors:

      (a) it appears from the information in the statement of affairs (and any additional information supplied by the debtor) that, if the debtor did not become a bankrupt, the debtor would be likely (either immediately or within a reasonable time) to be able to pay all the debts specified in the debtor’s statement of affairs;

      (b) at least one of the following applies:

      (i) it appears from the information in the statement of affairs (and any additional information supplied by the debtor) that the debtor is unwilling to pay one or more debts to a particular creditor or creditors, or is unwilling to pay creditors in general;

      (ii) before the current petition was presented, the debtor previously became a bankrupt on a debtor’s petition at least 3 times, or at least once in the period of 5 years before presentation of the current petition.

      (3AB) The Official Receiver is not required to consider in each case whether there is a discretion to reject under subsection (3AA).

      (3AC) An application may be made to the Administrative Appeals Tribunal for the review of a decision by the Official Receiver to reject a petition under subsection (3AA).

      (3A) Before accepting a debtor’s petition against joint debtors, the Official Receiver must give each petitioning debtor the information prescribed by the regulations.

      (3B) The Official Receiver must refer a debtor’s petition to the Court for a direction to accept or reject it if there is at least one creditor’s petition that:

      (a) is pending against at least one of the debtors (whether or not the creditor’s petition also relates to other persons); and

      (b) does not relate only to all the joint debtors who presented the debtor’s petition.

      Example 1: Peta and Abdul are joint debtors. When they present a debtor’s petition against themselves, there is a creditor’s petition pending against Abdul. The Official Receiver must refer the debtor’s petition to the Court, because the creditor’s petition does not relate to both Peta and Abdul.

      Example 2: Joan and Craig are joint debtors. When they present a debtor’s petition against themselves, there is a creditor’s petition pending against Joan, Craig and Paul. The Official Receiver must refer the debtor’s petition to the Court.

      Example 3: Kim, Robin and Jane are joint debtors. When they present a debtor’s petition against themselves, there is a creditor’s petition pending against Kim, Robin and Jane, and no-one else. The Official Receiver is not required to

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