Introduction

This article offers a broad overview of how insolvency law may assist in the context of debt recovery with speed and economy for your client.

If you have a client with a debt owed, and the debt satisfies all the criteria set out in this article, a statutory demand may be a good route to recovery of the debt. However if the debt doesn’t meet all the criteria, or there is a defect in the demand or some other aspect of the winding up application, the statutory demand is likely to be set aside with an adverse costs order.

Insolvency law is a technical area of law and statutory demands and winding up proceedings are no exception. The relevant legislation is the most important starting point for practitioners – please use this article as a guide to the legislation, particularly the Corporations Act.

Statutory demands that are set aside will usually result in the process having to be started again. Hence it is vital to take care from the outset to ensure any demand (or application to set aside) is undertaken with care.

The full article (3241 words) considers:

Corporations Act rules
Requirements for service
Formal requirements for a demand
Supporting affidavit requirements
Service
Applications to set aside a demand
Defects entitling the debtor company to set aside a demand
Genuine despute grounds to set aside
Winding up proceedings
Filing fees
Court checklists for a smooth application