Federal Court of Australia

Unserved Creditor's Petitions - avoiding unnecessary Court appearances

1. Where a creditor's petition has not been served on any debtor, and is likely to remain unserved on the scheduled hearing date, the creditor should, prior to the scheduled hearing date, approach the Registrar to vacate the scheduled hearing date and fix a new hearing date. This will avoid the need for the creditor to appear in Court. Such an appearance usually results in the Court making "No Order" and is unnecessary - see sub-rule 13(2) of the Bankruptcy Rules.

2. For the purposes of para. 1, the Registry will adopt the following procedure:

a. Upon the creditor's written request received no later than 10.00 am on the business day before the scheduled hearing date, the Bankruptcy List Clerk will arrange to vacate the scheduled hearing date and fix a new hearing date.

b. The creditor's written request should be accompanied by the service copies of the creditor's petition. (Under sub-rule 13(3) of the Bankruptcy Rules, the Registrar must alter the note containing particulars of the hearing date that is attached to each copy of the petition.)

c. The altered service copies of the creditor's petition may, if the creditor wishes, be collected from the Registry or otherwise will be returned to the creditor by DX or ordinary mail.

John Mathieson
Registrar in Bankruptcy
9 July 1996