Generally the Bankruptcy Petition should be presented to the county court nearest to where the debtor has lived or carried on business in the six months prior to the presentation of the petition.
If the debtor is already subject to an Individual voluntary Arrangement (IVA), it should be presented to the court that are dealing with the IVA.
If the debtor is based in London, they may come under the London Insolvency District, where the rules are slightly different.
The London Insolvency District comprises the areas which are served by the following county court hearing centres:
- Barnet;
- Bow;
- Brentford;
- county court at Central London;
- Clerkenwell and Shoreditch;
- Edmonton;
- Lambeth;
- Mayor’s and City of London;
- Wandsworth;
- West London; and
- Willesden
If the proceedings fall into one of the above areas, then proceedings should be issued in the high court where the debt is £50,000 or more and should be issued in the county court at Central London, where the debt is less than £50,000.
There are other instances where the Bankruptcy Petition should be issued in the high court, namely:
- where the debtor is not resident in England or Wales and within the six months prior to the presentation of the petition, the debtor neither resided nor carried on business in England and Wales;
- where the creditor cannot ascertain if the debtor resides or carries on business in England and Wales;
- where the debtor is a member of a partnership being wound up by the high court;
- where the petition is based on a criminal bankruptcy.
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