Appeal to the High Court from a decision of a district judge exercising insolvency jurisdiction in the county court on appeal from a decision of the bankruptcy adjudicator raising two fundamental, and apparently novel, questions.
The first concerns the evidential burden, if any, resting on an applicant for a bankruptcy order to adduce evidence as to his inability to access his pension pots for the purposes of demonstrating, as required by section 263K(1)(b) of the Insolvency Act 1986 (as amended), that he is unable to pay his debts at the date of the adjudicator’s determination of his bankruptcy application.
The second question concerns the potential liability of the Secretary of State to an order under section 51 of the Senior Courts Act 1981 to pay the costs incurred by an applicant for a bankruptcy order who successfully challenges the refusal of the bankruptcy adjudicator to make a bankruptcy order on his application.
His Honour Judge Hodge QC,
Sitting as a Judge of the High Court
[2021] EWHC 3140 (Ch)
Bailii
England and Wales
Insolvency
Updated: 02 January 2022; Ref: scu.670285
