Commentary on Provisions(1) Modification of the Bankruptcy (Scotland) Act 2016 Section 9 – Time periods for appeals against decisions by AiB
31.Section 69 of the 2016 Act currently provides that where a trustee is seeking authority to resign from office or where the trustee has died and there is a requirement to appoint a new trustee, the new trustee may require the resigning trustee or the representatives for the trustee who has died to submit their accounts for audit to the commissioners or where there are no commissioners to AiB. The commissioners or the AiB, as appropriate, may issue a determination fixing the amount of remuneration and outlays payable to the previous trustee or their representatives. In this section, parties wishing to appeal the commissioners’ determination on outlays and renumeration to AiB must do so within 14 days of the determination. Section 69(12) provides that a determination of AiB in any such appeal is appealable thereafter to the sheriff but the legislation is silent on the time period for making such an appeal.
32.Similarly, section 134(1) of the 2016 Act currently provides that where there are commissioners involved in a bankruptcy, parties wishing to appeal the commissioners’ determination may appeal to AiB and this must be done within an 8 week period after the end of the relevant accounting period. Section 134(3) of the 2016 Act provides that a determination of AiB in any such appeal is appealable thereafter to the sheriff but the legislation is silent on the time period for this.
33.This section modifies sections 69(12) and 134(3) of the 2016 Act so that an appeal to the sheriff against a determination by AiB must be made within 14 days beginning with the date of any decision of AiB in an appeal under section 69(11)(a) or section 134(1)(a), respectively. This section also modifies section 134(4) of the 2016 Act to make it clear that the debtor may appeal under subsection (3) only if the debtor satisfies the sheriff that the debtor has a financial interest in the outcome of the appeal.