Replacing the Official Receiver

Published: 13/04/2021 By Andrew Bailey

In insolvency work, it is funny how you can get a streak of certain types of instructions depending upon external factors. At the moment, I am seeing more bankruptcy referrals from creditors to seek my appointment as Trustee to replace the Official Receiver.
 
Pursuing a Bankruptcy Order against an individual has remained an option available despite other Government pandemic restrictions. If you are a creditor, you can look at whether you can appoint an insolvency practitioner of your choice to deal with the bankrupt’s estate.
 
This is useful especially if you think the bankrupt has been up to no good and you want an insolvency practitioner of your choice taking control of the investigations. This is not a criticism of the Official Receiver who I deal with regularly and the teams there are friendly and helpful.
 
The benefit for the creditor in replacing the Official Receiver with another Trustee is that you know the insolvency practitioner taking on the case and their expertise amongst other things.
 
Often these referrals come from a creditor’s solicitor and I will always say that it is never a waste of my time to look at any case.
 
I often liken it to something like the TV programme, Storage Hunters. You don't know what you will find until you start looking around!