Presenting a winding-up petition to court
You'll normally instruct a solicitor to deal with :
- drafting the winding-up petition
- lodging (submitting) the petition in court
You can lodge your petition in the relevant sheriff court if both the company’s:
- paid up share capital does not exceed £120,000
- registered office has been in the sheriff court's jurisdiction for the majority of the previous 6 months
If the company's paid up share capital exceeds £120,000, you can only lodge your petition in the Court of Session.
You can also lodge the petition in the Court of Session where the company’s share capital does not exceed £120,000. A solicitor may advise you if, in your case, this is the right option.
Find a court on the Scottish Courts website.
If the court accepts your petition
The court will arrange a date for a hearing. The court has discretion in how to deal with the petition. In most cases the court will instruct the petitioning party to advertise the petition once, in:
- the Edinburgh Gazette
- one or more newspapers
The petition will also be shown on the walls of the court.
The court will also instruct that the petition is served by sheriff officers on the company that owes you money.
The company or any interested party will have 8 days to lodge any responses to the petition with the court.
After 8 days, your solicitor will check with the court to see if they have had any answers in response to the petition.
Your solicitor will also:
- send to the court a proof of the advertisement
- send to the court evidence that the petition has been served by sheriff officers
- ask the court to issue a winding up order and to appoint an interim liquidator
If your petition has no answers lodged with the court
The court will issue a winding up order if they, both:
- are satisfied that the petition has been advertised and served as the court instructed
- have received no objections from interested parties
If your petition has answers lodged with the court
If any interested party responds opposing the petition to wind up the company, the court may organise a hearing to discuss matters further. The court will then make a decision whether or not to, both:
- make a winding up order
- appoint an interim liquidator
Before granting a winding up order, the court may decide to appoint a provisional liquidator. For example, where there is a need to quickly take control of the company and its assets to protect company assets and property for the benefit of creditors.
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