Property was held in joint names. The husband failed to comply with a statutory demand, and so committed an act of bankruptcy. The wife later died, and the husband was then made bankrupt a month later.
Held: An act of bankruptcy did not operate as an involuntary act to sever the joint tenancy and the bankrupt inherited the jointly held property. On his bankruptcy the entire property was then vested in the trustee and was available to the creditors. ‘the effect of section 38(a) is not to vest title in the trustee retrospectively in the sense that under the Act he is deemed to have had title at the commencement of the bankruptcy: the effect of Section 38(a) is to vest in the trustee, when adjudication occurs, title to property which is identified by reference to the property which belonged to the bankrupt at the commencement of the bankruptcy. The consequence of this may be, and in some cases will be, to divest a third party of title to property which since the commencement of the bankruptcy he has acquired from the bankrupt. That divesting occurs when the adjudication order is made, not before.’
Browne-Wilkinson J
Gazette 15-Jul-1992, [1993] Ch 72
Bankruptcy Act 1914 18 37 38A
England and Wales
Citing:
Appealed to – Re Dennis (A Bankrupt) CA 22-May-1995
A joint tenancy was severed (under the former law) on the event of an act of bankruptcy, and not only by the later actual adjudication of bankruptcy. The vesting of the debtor’s property in the trustee which occurred on adjudication was automatic; . .
Cited by:
Appeal from – Re Dennis (A Bankrupt) CA 22-May-1995
A joint tenancy was severed (under the former law) on the event of an act of bankruptcy, and not only by the later actual adjudication of bankruptcy. The vesting of the debtor’s property in the trustee which occurred on adjudication was automatic; . .
Not followed – In Re Palmer, Deceased (A Debtor) ChD 25-Mar-1994
The court considered the effect of the doctrine of relation back on a property of which the bankrupt was formerly a joint tenant where the bankrupt had died after the act of bankruptcy but before adjudication.
Held: A deceased’s share in . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Updated: 01 October 2021; Ref: scu.85751
