Take care with agreements with creditors to adjourn the hearings of bankruptcy or winding up petitions

If you are trying to deal with a creditor, whether a trade creditor or, quite commonly, HMRC who has issued a Bankruptcy petition against you / Winding up petition against your company, and you have had dialogue over the phone about an agreed payment plan with the result that you are making payments to that creditor on the understanding that on receipt of the payments the petitioning creditor will agree to an adjournment of the hearing of the bankruptcy/winding up petition, please ensure you get the confirmation of agreed plan in writing.

You should also make arrangements to either represent yourself or be otherwise represented, at the Bankruptcy or Winding up petition hearing to ensure that you advise the court of the agreement by the petitioning creditor to an adjournment of the hearing. In this way you will not be reliant upon the creditor asking the court to adjourn your case.

If you fail to do this, even if you think you have an agreement with the petitioner, there is still a risk that the creditor will continue to seek a bankruptcy/winding up order, and you could still find yourself subject to a bankruptcy order or winding up order.

For more information and assistance with representation, Chamberlain & Co are available on 0113-8681203 or [email protected]