Home » Answers Hub » Serving insolvency petitions
A bankruptcy petition must be served personally on the debtor: handed to them by someone who can prove it, under Schedule 4 of the Insolvency (England and Wales) Rules 2016. A winding up petition is served at the company's registered office, ideally by handing it to a director, officer or employee. If a debtor evades service, the court can authorise substituted service, but only on evidence of genuine attempts. A certificate of service must then be filed.
Petitions are where insolvency turns from warning to reality, and the rules on serving them are correspondingly strict. Schedule 4 to the Insolvency (England and Wales) Rules 2016 governs how they must reach the debtor, and courts examine compliance closely because the consequences, bankruptcy or compulsory liquidation, are severe.
The petition must be handed to the debtor personally. A professional server attends where the debtor can be found, confirms identity, delivers the sealed petition and records the encounter in detail. Where a debtor avoids service, the creditor cannot simply post it: the court must be asked to order substituted service, and it grants those orders on evidence, typically multiple documented attempts at different times, an appointment letter warning that service will otherwise be treated as effected, and confirmation the debtor is connected to the address. A server's contemporaneous notes are exactly the material these applications are built from.
Service is at the company's registered office, by handing the petition to a person who acknowledges being a director, officer or employee authorised to accept it. If no such person is available, the petition may be deposited at the registered office in a way likely to come to a responsible person's attention, and where even that is impracticable, the court can direct another method. After service, the petition is advertised in The Gazette, not less than seven business days after service and not less than seven business days before the hearing, a sequence that only works when the date of service is beyond argument.
Every petition needs a certificate of service filed with the court, stating precisely how, when and where service took place. Tremark serves petitions nationwide for insolvency practitioners and solicitors, with certificates prepared to the rules, sworn evidence where needed, and the speed that hearing dates demand.
Tremark's nationwide team of process servers completes most instructions at a fixed fee, with a certificate of service included as standard. Get an exact price for your instruction in under a minute.
Get an instant quote or find out more about our process serving servicesPrefer to put your question to a person? Send the team a message and we will come back to you promptly.
This page provides general information about the law and practice in England and Wales and is not legal advice. Rules change and individual circumstances vary; always take advice from a solicitor on your specific situation. Prices shown are indicative, exclusive of VAT and confirmed in writing before any work begins.