Commonwealth Numbered Acts

BANKRUPTCY AMENDMENT ACT 1980 No. 12 of 1980 - SECT 143

143. After section 252 of the Principal Act the following section is inserted:



"252A. (1) Where the Court is satisfied-

   (a)  that an order for the administration of the estate of a deceased
        person under this Part, whether made before or after the commencement
        of this section, ought not to have been made; or

   (b)  that the unsecured debts of the estate of a deceased person in respect
        of which an order has been made, whether before or after the
        commencement of this section, for administration under this Part,
        being debts that have been proved in the administration, have been
        paid in full or a legal acquittance has been obtained of them, the
        Court may make an order annulling the administration of the estate
        under this Part.



"(2) Where the administration of the estate of a deceased person under this
Part is annulled under sub-section (1), all sales and dispositions of property
and payments duly made, and all acts done, by the trustee of the estate under
this Part or any person acting under the authority of the trustee or the Court
before the annulment shall be deemed to have been validly made or done, but,
subject to sub-section (3), the property still vested in the trustee in
connection with his administration of the estate vests in such person as the
Court appoints or, in default of such appointment, reverts to the estate of
the deceased person for all its estate or interest in it, on such terms and
subject to such conditions (if any) as the Court orders.



"(3) Where a law of the Commonwealth or of a State or Territory of the
Commonwealth requires the transmission of property to be registered, any such
property vested in the trustee of the estate under this Part at the time of
the annulment of the administration under this Part, notwithstanding that it
vests in equity in such person as the Court appoints or in the estate, as the
case may be, does not vest in that person or the estate at law until the
requirements of that law have been complied with.



"(4) For the purposes of sub-section (1), where a debt has been proved by a
creditor but the creditor cannot be found or cannot be identified, the debt
may be paid to the Registrar, and if so paid, shall, for the purposes of
sub-section (1), be deemed to have been paid in full to the creditor.



"(5) Where money is paid to the Registrar under sub-section (4), the Registrar
shall pay that money into the Consolidated Revenue Fund and the provisions of
sub-section 254 (3) and (4) apply in relation to that money as if it had been
paid into the Consolidated Revenue Fund by a trustee in pursuance of
sub-section 254 (2).".