July 1997

57.01 Introduction

It is possible for a debtor to make an arrangement with his/her creditors to avoid the consequences of bankruptcy. The Insolvency Act 1986 introduced a flexible and effective system of voluntary arrangement which is designed to provide an alternative to bankruptcy proceedings (this is considered in Part 1 of this Chapter). Prior to the Insolvency Act 1986 arrangements could be made using the Deeds of Arrangement Act 1914 but these were not very flexible and could be easily defeated by a dissenting creditor presenting a petition for bankruptcy. Consequently, these provisions, were little used. The provisions of the Deeds of Arrangement Act have not been repealed and a debtor may still be able to enter into such a deed (this is considered in Part 2 of this chapter).The county court administration order procedure is designed to assist insolvent individuals with few, if any, assets but who have an income from which small levels of debt (currently under £5,000) can be repaid over a period of time (county court administration orders are considered in Part 3 of this chapter).

This chapter is divided into 3 parts as follows;

Part 1 - Individual Voluntary Arrangements (paragraphs 57.2 to 57.38)

Part 2 - Deeds of Arrangements (paragraphs 57.39 to 57.60)

Part 3 - County Court Administration Orders (paragraph 57.61 to 57.73)

For information and advice relating to fast track voluntary arrangements (FTVA) please see Chapter 20, Part 6.

For information and advice relating to Debt Relief Orders (DRO) please see Chapter 46.

Abbreviations used in this Chapter are:

IA2000 - The Insolvency Act 2000.

EA2002 - The Enterprise Act 2002

IPO 1994 - The Insolvent Partnerships Order 1994

DPO - Administration of Insolvent Estates of Deceased Persons Order 1986

IVA - individual voluntary arrangement

FTVA - fast-track individual voluntary arrangement

PVA - partnership voluntary arrangement

CVA - company voluntary arrangement

RTLU - Regional Trustees Liaison Unit

BRO - bankruptcy restriction order

 

[On to Part 1 - Individual Voluntary Arrangements]