Modification of the Bankruptcy (Scotland) Act 2016
Section 7 – Petition for sequestration: citation of debtor
28.Section 7 modifies section 22 the 2016 Act to extend the specified period for citation of the debtor by removing the upper limit of 14 days.
29.Where a petition for sequestration of the estate of a debtor is presented by a creditor or a trustee acting under a trust deed, section 22 of the 2016 Act requires that the sheriff grant a warrant to cite the debtor to appear before the sheriff on a specified date. The debtor must then be cited no fewer than 6 days, and no more than 14 days before the specified hearing date, meaning that sheriff officers have a period of 8 days in which to cite the debtor. Section 7 of the Act removes the requirement that citation must occur no more than 14 days before the date on which the debtor is to appear before the sheriff, meaning that sheriff officers can cite the debtor on any day from when the sheriff grants the warrant to cite up to 6 days before the hearing date.
See the glossary in the Policy Memorandum for definition of terms.