Creditor's Bankruptcy Petition- Discretion on Compliance with Section 6.10 , Insolvency Rules 1986

The request was partially successful.

Dear Her Majesty’s Courts and the Tribunals Service,

The Insolvency Rules 1986 state, at Rule 6.10:
Procedure for presentation and filing

6.10.—(1) The petition, verified by affidavit in accordance with Rule 6.12(1) below, shall be filed in court.

(2) No petition shall be filed unless there is produced with it the receipt for the deposit payable on presentation.

(3) The following copies of the petition shall also be delivered to the court with the petition—

(a)one for service on the debtor, and
(b)one to be exhibited to the affidavit verifying that service.
Each of these copies shall have applied to it the seal of the court, and shall be issued to the petitioner.

(4) The date and time of filing the petition shall be endorsed on the petition and on any copy issued under paragraph (3).

(5) The court shall fix a venue for hearing the petition, and this also shall be endorsed on the petition and on any copy so issued.

i) Please explain if HMCTS has any exemption or discretion by (2) not to issue a receipt for payment of the requisite court fees and Official receiver's deposit

ii) Please explain why HMCTS appears not to issue receipts for petitions presented by mail. Please provide details of any legal authority allowing HMCTS to dispense with the provision of receipt for petition fee and Official Receiver's deposit

iii) Please explain why receipts are not retained in the bankruptcy petition file for that petition, in accordance with the Insolvency Rules 1986 (and 2016)

iv) Please confirm that HMCTS has no exemption or discretion to vary the provision of (4) above. If you believe that HMCTS does have an exemption or power to vary, then please give your authority in law to do so.

Yours faithfully,

BERT GEISHERD

Dear Her Majesty’s Courts and the Tribunals Service,

Re- FOI request regarding compliance with Rule 6.10, Insolvency Rules,1986. I should make it clear that I refer to the situation in regard to presentation and endorsement of a petition prior to the introduction of the Insolvency Rules,2015,which has changed some matters.
Please distinguish and add to your response if the situation was different before the introrduction of the 2015 Rules, as well as what the current situation is

Yours faithfully,

BERT GEISHERD

Dear Her Majesty’s Courts and the Tribunals Service,
Your response is out of time and no extension of time has been sought. Your response please

Yours faithfully,

BERT GEISHERD

Taylor-Platts, Hannah, HM Courts and Tribunals Service

 

 

 

Good afternoon sir,

 

We are responding to you query re receipts following file the bankruptcy
petition, may I ask what type of payment are you referring to?  Cheque
cash etc?

 

Please advise

 

 

show quoted sections

Dear Taylor-Platts, Hannah,

Thank you for your e-mail. I am asking about cheque payments for presentation of a bankruptcy petition by post. HMCTS apparently does not issue receipts-there is another FOI request answer somewhere on this site that says this in passing.
The Insolvency Act 1986/Insolvency Rules 1986 require proof of payment when presenting a petition-and a cheque cannot act as a receipt of itself. Thus, it seems reasonable to ask why a receipt is not cut when a petition arrives by post- with a copy sent back to petitioner with paperwork-and the other kept and placed in a court file as retention of essential paperwork, as the Rules direct.

Hope that helps

Best wishes
AFG

Yours sincerely,

BERT GEISHERD

Taylor-Platts, Hannah, HM Courts and Tribunals Service

Thank you so much Sir for getting back to me,

Your query will now be looked into and responded to by the correct team.

Best wishes

Hannah Taylor-Platts
Civil Jurisdictional and Operational Support
[mobile number]

Courts & Tribunals Development Directorate │ 6th Floor (6.16) │102 Petty France │London │SW1H 9AJ
Remote base: Exeter Combined Court Centre | Southernhay Gardens | Exeter
Devon | EX1 1UH | (DX 98440 EXETER 2)

Please note my working week is Monday to Wednesday.

show quoted sections

Dear Taylor-Platts, Hannah,
Please respond- response was due by 4th January 2016-and now,at 16th January, you say it can go to the correct team. Just how much longer is this going to take? What is your projected date for response? Another 20 working days? -this asbolutely ridiculous.

Yours sincerely,

BERT GEISHERD

Taylor-Platts, Hannah, HM Courts and Tribunals Service

Good morning Sir,

Sorry for the delay, the initial target you were given was from the Freedom of Information team your query was not suitable for Freedom of Information and subsequently passed to us.

Having now sought clarification over your query we will aim to deal within your query within the next 5 to 10 working days I will keep you informed.

Yours sincerely

Hannah Taylor-Platts
Civil Jurisdictional and Operational Support
[mobile number]

Courts & Tribunals Development Directorate │ 6th Floor (6.16) │102 Petty France │London │SW1H 9AJ
Remote base: Exeter Combined Court Centre | Southernhay Gardens | Exeter
Devon | EX1 1UH | (DX 98440 EXETER 2)

Please note my working week is Monday to Wednesday.

show quoted sections

Dear Taylor-Platts, Hannah,
Thank you for your response. I look forward to a reply by professional correspondence. The matter was suitable for FOI. HMCTS does not issue receipts for inward cheque payments-which is at odds with the requirements of the Insolvency Rules 1986 (for insolvency actions before 2015,with the new rules). Consequently, there ought to be some HMCTS office literature on this -about how to deal with petitions,etc. That this is HMCTS policy is contained in another FOI response on this site (which was nothing to do with me)

Yours sincerely,

BERT GEISHERD

Dear Taylor-Platts, Hannah,
Would you be so kind as to update the status of this FOI request, whether dealt with as FOI or by professional correspondence? It is now on calendar day 60 since being filed with HMCTS-which puts it at twice the permitted time in working days as per the legislation. And the "5-10" days to sort out a response by professional correspondence , running from your previous response on 17th January 2018, was up yesterday.

Yours sincerely,

BERT GEISHERD

Civil & Family Business Support,

Dear Bert Geisherd,

Thank you for your continuing patience, I'm sorry we are yet able to answer your query we are now liaising with the insolvency service and finance leads at HMCTS as soon as we have some more information we will pass this onto you. As the request is no longer subject to FOI rules as decided by DACU it is a business as usual request we are not held to the same response times, but I can assure you we are looking into your query as fully as possible and will respond as soon we are able to. If I have no full reply I will send a further update within the next week.

Yours sincerely,

Hannah Taylor-Platts
Civil Jurisdictional and Operational Support
[mobile number]

Courts & Tribunals Development Directorate │ 6th Floor (6.16) │102 Petty France │London │SW1H 9AJ
Remote base: Exeter Combined Court Centre | Southernhay Gardens | Exeter
Devon |  EX1 1UH | (DX 98440 EXETER 2)

Please note my working week is Monday to Wednesday.

show quoted sections

Dear Civil & Family Business Support,
Thank you for the update. I look forward what comes along- though I must raise a serious concern with you based on your note. I fail to see what the Insolvency Service has to do with this at all, nor why HMCTS should be asking that agency for anything. This is a straight request to HMCTS about what HMCTS does. And no other.
I asked for FOI information as the Insolvency Act is clear- what HMCTS does is somewhat different. Professional advice is that a petition, failed or not, must be endorsed for date and time on "presentation"-it is as much a matter of importance to know when an "unlawful" petition was presented, in case of argument, as one that proceeds with the Court. Endorsement of a petition does not constitute acceptance of that petition- it is not a mark of approval, merely of time.
The idea of asking under FOI was in case HMCTS was using a power to vary that we could not identify, or whether some internal procedure (say,internal training manual) was at variance with the law-which does happen from time to time. Thus, the straight FOI report should be that there is no power to vary, with the rider that HMCTS might have developed an "Old Spanish Custom" which could then be corrected.
As to receipts in the court file for insolvency: That was to try to understand why HMCTS has in the past displayed notices stating that receipts were issued for ALL payments, when petition payments by post clearly were excluded-and that in spite of the Act and Rules stating that proof of payment must be presented with the petition-and a cheque is not a receipt of itself. It seemed that the only true course under the Insolvency Rules 1986 was that a receipt was cut for required payment coming in, whether by cash or cheque, and that a copy of the receipt should constsitute a document required to be placed in the court file for that petition. The situation seems to have been corrected by the more recent Insolvency Rules, though our reaidng of the old ones of 1986 is that a receipt should have been cut and a copy kept.
Your response is awaited with interest.

Yours sincerely,

BERT GEISHERD

Civil & Family Business Support,

Thank you for your email to the Civil & Family Business Support mailbox,
which is here to assist court staff with civil and family jurisdiction
issues.

 

The mailbox is checked regularly during business hours 10am to 4pm Monday
to Friday and we endeavour to reply to all emails within 5 working days.
However, it may take longer to provide you with a definitive answer if
your query needs to be referred to our policy, legal or operational
colleagues.

 

To enable us to respond to your email quickly and efficiently, all
enquiries must be submitted on the ‘Civil & Family Jurisdictional Support
Team Query Form’.

 

The query form is accessible on the intranet in the ‘My work’ section
under the Civil and Family jurisdiction links
- [1]https://intranet.justice.gov.uk/about-hm....

 

Before sending the query form to the mailbox, you are required to verify
that you have conducted a check to ensure that the information requested
is not available online and you have consulted with a Business Expert,
Line Manager and / or the Regional Support Unit (RSU). 

 

Any queries received without a completed form or forms received without
the required boxes ticked will be promptly returned to the sender.

 

Summarised below are key HMCTS intranet page links where you may find the
information you have requested:

 

Bailiff guidance –
       [2]http://hmcts.intranet.service.justice.go...

Civil jurisdiction (job cards, policies, procedures and SOPs) –
[3]http://hmcts.intranet.service.justice.go...

Court fees and payments –

[4]https://intranet.justice.gov.uk/about-hm...

Family jurisdiction (job cards, policies, procedures and SOPs) –

[5]https://intranet.justice.gov.uk/about-hm...

Fee account –

[6]https://intranet.justice.gov.uk/about-hm...

Intranet Fees Accounting Systems (IFAS) –

[7]https://intranet.justice.gov.uk/about-hm...

Record Retention and Disposition Schedule -
[8]https://intranet.justice.gov.uk/guidance...

Regions (including RSU contact details) –

[9]https://intranet.justice.gov.uk/regional...

Use of email in civil and family courts –

[10]https://intranet.justice.gov.uk/about-hm...

This e-mail (and any attachment) is intended only for the attention of
the addressee(s). Its unauthorised use, disclosure, storage or copying
is not permitted. If you are not the intended recipient, please destroy
all
copies and inform the sender by return e-mail.

Internet e-mail is not a secure medium. Any reply to this message
could be intercepted and read by someone else. Please bear that in
mind when deciding whether to send material in response to this message
by e-mail.

This e-mail (whether you are the sender or the recipient) may be
monitored, recorded and retained by the Ministry of Justice. E-mail
monitoring / blocking software may be used, and e-mail content may be
read at any time. You have a responsibility to ensure laws are not
broken when composing or forwarding e-mails and their contents.

References

Visible links
1. https://intranet.justice.gov.uk/about-hm...
2. http://hmcts.intranet.service.justice.go...
3. http://hmcts.intranet.service.justice.go...
4. https://intranet.justice.gov.uk/about-hm...
5. https://intranet.justice.gov.uk/about-hm...
6. https://intranet.justice.gov.uk/about-hm...
7. https://intranet.justice.gov.uk/about-hm...
8. https://intranet.justice.gov.uk/guidance...
9. https://intranet.justice.gov.uk/regional...
10. https://intranet.justice.gov.uk/about-hm...

Dear Civil & Family Business Support,
This FOI request is coming to the end of it's second spell of 20 working days today. There has, as yet, been no proper response under FOI, while response as "professional correspondence" cannot be open-ended and merely a matter of "don't call us, we'll call you". Thus, what is happening to this matter, whether by FOI or "professional correspondence"?
I would ask you to include your correspondence with the Insolvency Service in your reply. Quite why you have contacted that agency is beyond my understanding for a request that has absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with that agency.

Yours sincerely,

BERT GEISHERD

Civil & Family Business Support,

Thank you for your email to the Civil & Family Business Support mailbox,
which is here to assist court staff with civil and family jurisdiction
issues.

 

The mailbox is checked regularly during business hours 10am to 4pm Monday
to Friday and we endeavour to reply to all emails within 5 working days.
However, it may take longer to provide you with a definitive answer if
your query needs to be referred to our policy, legal or operational
colleagues.

 

To enable us to respond to your email quickly and efficiently, all
enquiries must be submitted on the ‘Civil & Family Jurisdictional Support
Team Query Form’.

 

The query form is accessible on the intranet in the ‘My work’ section
under the Civil and Family jurisdiction links
- [1]https://intranet.justice.gov.uk/about-hm....

 

Before sending the query form to the mailbox, you are required to verify
that you have conducted a check to ensure that the information requested
is not available online and you have consulted with a Business Expert,
Line Manager and / or the Regional Support Unit (RSU). 

 

Any queries received without a completed form or forms received without
the required boxes ticked will be promptly returned to the sender.

 

Summarised below are key HMCTS intranet page links where you may find the
information you have requested:

 

Bailiff guidance –
       [2]http://hmcts.intranet.service.justice.go...

Civil jurisdiction (job cards, policies, procedures and SOPs) –
[3]http://hmcts.intranet.service.justice.go...

Court fees and payments –

[4]https://intranet.justice.gov.uk/about-hm...

Family jurisdiction (job cards, policies, procedures and SOPs) –

[5]https://intranet.justice.gov.uk/about-hm...

Fee account –

[6]https://intranet.justice.gov.uk/about-hm...

Intranet Fees Accounting Systems (IFAS) –

[7]https://intranet.justice.gov.uk/about-hm...

Record Retention and Disposition Schedule -
[8]https://intranet.justice.gov.uk/guidance...

Regions (including RSU contact details) –

[9]https://intranet.justice.gov.uk/regional...

Use of email in civil and family courts –

[10]https://intranet.justice.gov.uk/about-hm...

This e-mail (and any attachment) is intended only for the attention of
the addressee(s). Its unauthorised use, disclosure, storage or copying
is not permitted. If you are not the intended recipient, please destroy
all
copies and inform the sender by return e-mail.

Internet e-mail is not a secure medium. Any reply to this message
could be intercepted and read by someone else. Please bear that in
mind when deciding whether to send material in response to this message
by e-mail.

This e-mail (whether you are the sender or the recipient) may be
monitored, recorded and retained by the Ministry of Justice. E-mail
monitoring / blocking software may be used, and e-mail content may be
read at any time. You have a responsibility to ensure laws are not
broken when composing or forwarding e-mails and their contents.

References

Visible links
1. https://intranet.justice.gov.uk/about-hm...
2. http://hmcts.intranet.service.justice.go...
3. http://hmcts.intranet.service.justice.go...
4. https://intranet.justice.gov.uk/about-hm...
5. https://intranet.justice.gov.uk/about-hm...
6. https://intranet.justice.gov.uk/about-hm...
7. https://intranet.justice.gov.uk/about-hm...
8. https://intranet.justice.gov.uk/guidance...
9. https://intranet.justice.gov.uk/regional...
10. https://intranet.justice.gov.uk/about-hm...

Civil & Family Business Support,

Dear B Geisherd,

I do apologise that you are yet to receive a full response to your questions, as previously advised your request is not considered a freedom of information request but business as usual therefore we are not subject to the same time response. We apologise for the length of time its s taking for us to respond and thank you for your continued patience whilst we liaise with other teams to respond fully to your questions.

Yours sincerely

Hannah Taylor-Platts
Civil Jurisdictional and Operational Support
[mobile number]

Courts & Tribunals Development Directorate │ 6th Floor (6.16) │102 Petty France │London │SW1H 9AJ
Remote base: Exeter Combined Court Centre | Southernhay Gardens | Exeter
Devon |  EX1 1UH | (DX 98440 EXETER 2)

Please note my working week is Monday to Wednesday.

show quoted sections

Dear Taylor-Platts, Hannah,

This has gone on long enough without formal response under FOI. Professional correspondence should also not take this long. It cannot be right that you have asked another agency for help on your FOI response- both bizarre and bonkers. I look forward to your professional response,as well as the proper actions and responses under FOI-in short order.

Yours sincerely,

BERT GEISHERD

Civil & Family Business Support,

2 Attachments

Dear Mr Geisherd,

 

We would like to take this opportunity to thank you for your patience
whilst we considered your query and we are pleased to inform you that we
are now in the position to provide you with a  full response attached.

 

 

Yours sincerely,

 

H Taylor-Platts

 

 

Courts & Tribunals Development Directorate │ 6^th Floor (6.16) │102
Petty France │London │SW1H 9AJ

 

[1]HMCTS_BLK_DIGI

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This e-mail (and any attachment) is intended only for the attention of
the addressee(s). Its unauthorised use, disclosure, storage or copying
is not permitted. If you are not the intended recipient, please destroy
all
copies and inform the sender by return e-mail.

Internet e-mail is not a secure medium. Any reply to this message
could be intercepted and read by someone else. Please bear that in
mind when deciding whether to send material in response to this message
by e-mail.

This e-mail (whether you are the sender or the recipient) may be
monitored, recorded and retained by the Ministry of Justice. E-mail
monitoring / blocking software may be used, and e-mail content may be
read at any time. You have a responsibility to ensure laws are not
broken when composing or forwarding e-mails and their contents.

References

Visible links