The Insolvency Act 1986 (c 45) is an Act

Act of Parliament

An Act of Parliament is a statute enacted as primary legislation by a national or sub-national parliament. In the Republic of Ireland the term Act of the Oireachtas is used, and in the United States the term Act of Congress is used.In Commonwealth countries, the term is used both in a narrow...

 of the Parliament of the United Kingdom

Parliament of the United Kingdom

The Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the supreme legislative body in the United Kingdom, British Crown dependencies and British overseas territories, located in London...

 that provides the legal platform for all matters relating to personal and corporate insolvency in the UK.

History

The Insolvency Act 1986 followed the publication and most of the findings in the Cork Report.

Elements of the Act have been updated by the Enterprise Act 2002

Enterprise Act 2002

The Enterprise Act 2002 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom which made major changes to UK competition law with respect to mergers and also changed the law governing insolvency bankruptcy.-Structure:*Part 1 The Office of Fair Trading...

 which came into enforcement on April 1, 2004 and introduced amongst other things the popular "out-of-court" administration route.

Contents

The Insolvency Act 1986 essentially governs issues relating to personal bankruptcy

Bankruptcy

Bankruptcy is a legal status of an insolvent person or an organisation, that is, one that cannot repay the debts owed to creditors. In most jurisdictions bankruptcy is imposed by a court order, often initiated by the debtor....

 and Individual Voluntary Arrangements and all administrative orders relating to company insolvency

Insolvency

Insolvency means the inability to pay one's debts as they fall due. Usually used to refer to a business, insolvency refers to the inability of a company to pay off its debts.Business insolvency is defined in two different ways:...

.

Companies Winding Up

• Part I - Company Voluntary Arrangements

• Part II - Administration Orders

• Part III - Receivership
  Receivership
  In law, receivership is the situation in which an institution or enterprise is being held by a receiver, a person "placed in the custodial responsibility for the property of others, including tangible and intangible assets and rights." The receivership remedy is an equitable remedy that emerged in...
  
   (ss 22-72H)

• • Chapter I - Receivers and Managers (England and Wales)
  • Chapter II - Receivers (Scotland)
  • Chapter III - Receivers Powers in Great Britain as a whole

• Part IV - Winding Up of Companies Registered Under the Companies Acts (ss 73-219)

• • Chapter I - Preliminary
  • Chapter II - Voluntary Winding Up (Introductory and General)
  • Chapter III - Members Voluntary Winding Up (ss 91-96)
  • Chapter IV - Creditor' Voluntary Winding Up (ss 97-106)
  • Chapter V - Provisions Applying to both kinds of Winding up
  • Chapter VI - Winding Up by the Court (ss 117-162)
  • Chapter VII - Liquidators
  • Chapter VIII - Provisions of general application in winding up
  • Chapter IX - Dissolution of companies after winding up
  • Chapter X - Malpractice before and during Liquidation; Penalisation of companies and company officers; Investigations and prosecutions (ss 206-219)

• Part V - Winding Up Unregistered Companies (ss 220-229)

• Part VI - Miscellaneous Provisions applying to Companies which are Insolvent or in Liquidation

• Part VII - Interpretation for first group of parts

Insolvency of Individuals - Bankruptcy

• Part VIII - Individual Voluntary Arrangements

• Part IX - Bankruptcy (ss 264-371)

• Chapter I - Bankruptcy Petitions - Bankruptcy Orders
• Chapter II - Protection of Bankrupt's Estate and Investigation of his Affairs
• Chapter III - Trustees in Bankruptcy
• Chapter IV - Administration by Trustee
• Chapter V - Effect of Bankruptcy on certain rights, transactions etc
• Chapter VI - Bankruptcy Offences
• Chapter VII - Powers of Court in Bankruptcy

• Part X - Individual Insolvency: General Provisions

• Part XI - Interpretation for second group of parts

Miscellaneous matters

• Part XII - Preferential debts in company and individual insolvency

• Part XIII - Insolvency Practitioners and their qualifications (ss 338-398)

• Part XIV - Public Administration (ss 399-410)

• Part XV - Subordinate Legislation

• Part XVI - Provisions against debt avoidance (England and Wales Only)

• Part XVII - Miscellaneous and General

• Part XVIII - Interpretation

• Part XIX - Final Provisions

External links

• Original text of the statute as published by the Office of Public Sector Information
  Office of Public Sector Information
  The Office of Public Sector Information is the body responsible for the operation of Her Majesty's Stationery Office and of other public information services of the United Kingdom...
  
  
• Text of Act from insolvencyhelpline.co.uk
• Insolvency Service website
• Insolvency Practitioners Association website