The Compendium

Block Transfer (of Cases)

When an officeholder dies, retires or otherwise vacates office it would be a huge and time-consuming job to transfer their live cases to another Insolvency Practitioner (IP) one case at a time. As a result there is provision in the Insolvency Rules 2016 for the block transfer of cases from the dead/exiting IP to a live/new one. The details of this are contained in Rules 12.36-12.38 Insolvency Rules 2016.

The Rules say:

• An application for a block transfer can be made to the court.
• The replacement officeholder must be a qualified IP.
• An applicant must give at least five days’ notice of the application to the Secretary of State.
• The application must include a schedule setting out the name of each case, the case number and the capacity in which the outgoing officeholder was appointed (the word ‘outgoing’ is used, as this applies not only to dead IPs, but to those who leave office through mental incapacity or for any other good reason).
• The application must be supported by evidence setting out the circumstances which give rise to the appointment of the replacement IP. [See ‘Officeholder’, ‘Insolvency Practitioner’, ‘IP’ and ‘Insolvency Rules’.]

Bona Fide

Bona fide is a Latin phrase in good faith, or genuine. Without the intention to deceive.

In legal terms, it is often used to refer to a purchaser or holder who takes something without fraud, deceit, or knowledge of a lien or superior claim by another.

Bona Vacantia

This is a Latin phrase which means ‘ownerless goods’. It is used in an insolvency and restructuring context for goods or property without an apparent owner, as they have been solely owned and now, having been disclaimed by the officeholder, have no owner.