Before you petition the court

You'll normally instruct a solicitor to prepare and submit the winding-up petition. You must be able to:

• prove the company owes more than £750 (to one or more creditors)
• prove the company cannot repay what they owe

You can prove that a company cannot pay its debts using any of these reasons:

• the company does not comply with a 'statutory demand' served on behalf of a creditor owed over £750 within 3 weeks
• a creditor obtains judgment against the company and there are not enough assets or funds to clear the debt (the ‘execution is unsatisfied’)
• the company cannot pay its debts when they are due
• the company's total debts are more than its total assets

You can choose to use the template statutory demand from the Accountant in Bankruptcy's website. This template is a guide only, its use is not mandatory. There may be additional content prescribed in legislation which you must include. Your solicitor may also have a template and can help you complete it with all of the information required.

You can petition the court if the company:

• does not respond to the statutory demand within 21 days
• breaks a written promise to pay the debt