Insolvency (Amendment) Act (Northern Ireland) 2016
2016 CHAPTER 2
Commentary on Sections
Section 13: After-acquired property of bankrupt
Section 13 amends Article 280 of the Insolvency Order to facilitate banks offering accounts to undischarged bankrupts.
Article 280 allows a trustee in bankruptcy to claim by notice after-acquired property, which becomes the property of the bankrupt before they are discharged (usually 12 months after the bankruptcy order was made). Where that property is or becomes money that passes through a bank account, and the trustee is unable to recover it from the bankrupt or ultimate recipient, the trustee may claim against the bank for its loss to the bankrupt’s estate. Currently the trustee can consider such a claim as the bank would have been aware of the bankruptcy order.
Article 280(4) of the Insolvency Order prevents the trustee from taking action against certain persons who have dealt with after-acquired property in good faith and without notice of the bankruptcy – namely persons acquiring property for value and bankers entering into transactions. The amendment takes bankers outside the scope of Article 280(4) and instead provides protection for them by means of a new paragraph (4A) inserted into Article 280. The new paragraph (4A) prevents a trustee making a claim against a bank in circumstances where the bank has not been served with notice by the trustee specifically regarding the after-acquired property he or she wishes to claim, regardless of whether the bank has notice of the bankruptcy.
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