The estate of a debtor may be sequestrated in accordance with the provisions of this Act.

This subsection applies to the debtor if a qualified creditor or qualified creditors concur in the F81application .

No petition may be presented under subsection (2)(b)(i) above unless the qualified creditor has provided, by such time prior to the presentation of the petition as may be prescribed, the debtor with a debt advice and information package.

In subsection (2D) above, “debt advice and information package” means the debt advice and information package referred to in section 10(5) of the Debt Arrangement and Attachment (Scotland) Act 2002 (asp 17).

In this Act “qualified creditor” means a creditor who, at the date of the presentation of the petition F11or, as the case may be, the date the debtor application is made , is a creditor of the debtor in respect of liquid or illiquid debts (other than contingent or future debts F12or amounts payable under a confiscation order), whether secured or unsecured, which amount (or of one such debt which amounts) to not less than F13F14£3,000 or such sum as may be prescribed; and “qualified creditors” means creditors who at the said date are creditors of the debtor in respect of such debts as aforesaid amounting in aggregate to not less than F13F15£3,000 or such sum as may be prescribed F16; and in the foregoing provisions of this subsection “confiscation order ”F17means a confiscation order under Part 2, 3 or 4 of the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002.

In this Act, “trust deed” means a voluntary trust deed granted by or on behalf of the debtor whereby his estate (other than such of his estate as would not, under section 33(1) of this Act, vest in the F19. . . trustee if his estate were sequestrated) is conveyed to the trustee for the benefit of his creditors generally.

Paragraphs 1(1) and (3), 2(1)(a) and (2) and 6 of Schedule 1 to this Act shall apply in order to ascertain the amount of the debt or debts for the purposes of subsection (4) above as they apply in order to ascertain the amount which a creditor is entitled to claim, but as if for any reference to the date of sequestration there were substituted a reference to the date of presentation of the petition F21or, as the case may be, the date the debtor application is made .

The petitioner shall F22, on the day the petition for sequestration is presented under this section, send a copy of the petition to the Accountant in Bankruptcy.

In the case of a debtor application, the debtor shall send a statement of assets and liabilities to the Accountant in Bankruptcy along with the application.

Where, after a debtor application is made but before the sequestration is awarded, the debtor dies, then the application shall fall.

Where, after a debtor application is made but before the sequestration is awarded, a creditor who concurs in the application withdraws or dies, any other creditor who was a qualified creditor at the date the debtor application was made and who remains so qualified may notify the Accountant in Bankruptcy that he concurs in the application in place of the creditor who has withdrawn or died.

The conditions referred to in section 5(2B)(c)(ia) of this Act are as follows.

The debtor's weekly income (if any) on the date the debtor application is made does not exceed £100 or such other amount as may be prescribed.

The debtor does not own any land.

The total value of the debtor's assets (leaving out of account any liabilities) on the date the debtor application is made does not exceed £1000 or such other amount as may be prescribed.

A certificate for sequestration of a debtor's estate is a certificate granted by an authorised person certifying that the debtor is unable to pay debts as they become due.

A certificate may be granted only on the application of the debtor.

An authorised person must grant a certificate if, and only if, the debtor can demonstrate that the debtor is unable to pay debts as they become due.

In this section “authorised person” means a person falling within a class prescribed under subsection (5)(a).

A petition under F35F36subsection (4)(b) above may be combined with a petition for the sequestration of the estate of any of the partners as an individual where that individual is apparently insolvent.

The application of this Act to the sequestration of the estate of a limited partnership shall be subject to such modifications as may be prescribed.

Subsections (6) F38, (6A), (8) and (8A) of section 5 of this Act shall apply for the purposes of this section as they apply for the purposes of that section.

If, to the petitioner’s knowledge, there is a member State liquidator appointed in main proceedings in relation to the debtor, the petitioner shall, as soon as reasonably practicable, send a copy of the petition to that member State liquidator.

If, to the debtor's knowledge, there is a member State liquidator appointed in main proceedings in relation to the debtor, the debtor shall, as soon as reasonably practicable, send a copy of the debtor application to that member State liquidator.

Notwithstanding subsection (2) of section 6 of this Act, the apparent insolvency of an entity such as is mentioned in paragraph (a) or (b) of that subsection may be constituted (or as the case may be constituted anew) under subsection (1) above; and any reference in the foregoing provisions of this section to a debtor shall, except where the context otherwise requires, be construed as including a reference to such an entity.

A petition for the sequestration of the estate of a limited partnership may be presented within such time as may be prescribed.

If an executor does not petition for sequestration of the deceased debtor’s estate or for the appointment of a judicial factor to administer the estate within a reasonable period after he knew or ought to have known that the estate was absolutely insolvent and likely to remain so, any intromission by him with the estate after the expiry of that period shall be deemed to be an intromission without a title.

The presentation of F56, or the concurring in, a petition for sequestration shall bar the effect of any enactment or rule of law relating to the limitation of actions in any part of the United Kingdom.

Where before sequestration is awarded it becomes apparent that a petitioning F57. . . creditor was ineligible so to petition F57. . . he shall withdraw, or as the case may be withdraw from, the petition but another creditor may be sisted in his place.

Subject to subsection (2) below, a debtor application may be made at any time.

A debtor application made in relation to the estate of a limited partnership may be made within such time as may be prescribed.

The making of, or the concurring in, a debtor application shall bar the effect of any enactment or rule of law relating to the limitation of actions.

Where, before sequestration is awarded, it becomes apparent that a creditor concurring in a debtor application was ineligible to so concur the Accountant in Bankruptcy shall withdraw him from the application but another creditor may concur in the place of the ineligible creditor and that other creditor shall notify the Accountant in Bankruptcy of that fact.

F58Where a petition is presented for the sequestration of an estate, the F59sheriff shall have jurisdiction in respect of the sequestration of the estate of a living debtor or of a deceased debtor if the debtor had an established place of business in F60the sheriffdom, or was habitually resident there, at the relevant time.

The Accountant in Bankruptcy may determine a debtor application for the sequestration of the estate of a living debtor if the debtor had an established place of business in Scotland, or was habitually resident there, at the relevant time.

Notwithstanding that the partner of a firm, whether alive or deceased, does not fall within subsection (1) above, the F66sheriff shall have jurisdiction in respect of the sequestration of his estate if a petition has been presented for the sequestration of the estate of the firm of which he is, or was at the relevant time before his decease, a partner and the process of that sequestration is still current.

F68. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

In this section “the relevant time” means at any time in the year immediately preceding the date of presentation of the petition F69, the date the debtor application is made or the date of death, as the case may be.

This section is subject to Article 3 of the EC Regulation.

If a petitioner fails to comply with subsection (1) above, he may be made liable for the expenses of presenting the petition for sequestration.

If a creditor concurring in a debtor application fails to comply with subsection (1) above, he may be made liable for the expenses of making the debtor application.

If a debtor fails to comply with subsection (1) above, he shall be guilty of an offence and liable, on summary conviction, to a fine not exceeding level 5 on the standard scale.

In this section and in section 10A of this Act “analogous remedy” means a bankruptcy order under the Bankruptcy Act 1914 (c. 59) or an individual voluntary arrangement or bankruptcy order under the Insolvency Act 1986 (c. 45) or an administration order under section 112 of the County Courts Act 1984 (c. 28) in England and Wales or under any enactment having the like effect in Northern Ireland or a remedy analogous to any of the aforesaid remedies, or to sequestration, in any other country (including England, Wales and Northern Ireland).

Where, in the course of instant proceedings which are by petition, any of the circumstances mentioned in paragraphs (a) to (d) of section 10(2) of this Act exists, the sheriff to whom the petition in the instant proceedings was presented may, on his own motion or at the instance of the debtor or any creditor or other person having an interest, allow that petition to proceed or may sist or dismiss it.

Without prejudice to subsection (1) above, where, in the course of instant proceedings which are by petition, any of the circumstances mentioned in paragraphs (a), (c) or (d) of section 10(2) of this Act exists, the Court of Session may, on its own motion or on the application of the debtor or any creditor or other person having an interest, direct the sheriff before whom the petition in the instant proceedings is pending, or the sheriff before whom the other petition is pending, to sist or dismiss the petition in the instant proceedings or, as the case may be, the other petition, or may order the petitions to be heard together.

Without prejudice to subsection (1) above, where, in the course of instant proceedings which are by petition, the circumstance mentioned in paragraph (b) of section 10(2) of this Act exists, the sheriff to whom the petition in the instant proceedings was presented may, on his own motion or at the instance of the debtor or any creditor or other person having an interest, direct the Accountant in Bankruptcy to dismiss the debtor application.

Where, in the course of instant proceedings which are by debtor application, any of the circumstances mentioned in paragraphs (a) to (d) of section 10(2) of this Act exists, the Accountant in Bankruptcy may dismiss the debtor application in the instant proceedings.

Every creditor, being a petitioner for sequestration, a creditor who concurs in a F72debtor application or a qualified creditor who becomes sisted under subsection (8)(i) of section 5 of this Act or under that subsection as applied by section 6(8) of this Act, shall produce an oath in the prescribed form made by him or on his behalf.

The identity of the person making the oath and the identity of the person before whom the oath is made and their authority to make and to administer the oath respectively shall be presumed to be correctly stated, and any seal or signature on the oath shall be presumed to be authentic, unless the contrary is established.

If the oath contains any error or has omitted any fact, the F73sheriff to whom the petition for sequestration was presented F74or, in the case of a creditor concurring in a debtor application, the Accountant in Bankruptcy may, at any time before sequestration is awarded, allow another oath to be produced rectifying the original oath; and this section shall apply to the making of that other oath as it applies to the making of the original oath.

Every creditor must produce along with the oath an account or voucher (according to the nature of the debt) which constitutesprima facie evidence of the debt; and a petitioning creditor shall in addition produce such evidence as is available to him to show the apparent insolvency of the debtor.