Scottish courts can deal with insolvency proceedings in relation not only to those debtors (individuals, companies or legal entities) who have a home or registered office in Scotland but also, in terms of the European Regulation on Insolvency Proceedings, to debtors who have their centre of main interest or, in certain circumstances, some of their assets in Scotland.

In relation to companies, there are 4 main insolvency regimes in Scotland:

• Insolvent liquidations - Axiom advocates can deal with all legal aspects of the liquidation process, from drafting of petitions for winding up, appearance at hearings for the appointment of provisional liquidators and granting of the winding up orders, to drafting and appearances in relation to various notes in the liquidation process.
• Administrations - at the moment, there are two systems of administration in place - the 'old' administrations commenced before the Enterprise Act 2002 came into force and the new ones commenced since then. Complex questions of law and procedure may arise in relation to both systems.
• Receiverships - since the Enterprise Act 2002 came into force, the use of administrative receiverships (i.e. receiverships over the whole or substantially the whole of the assets of a company) has been restricted. But because the new restrictions do not apply to floating charges created before 15 September 2003, receivership will remain an important part of Scots law for some time to come.
• Voluntary arrangements - now that the voluntary arrangements provisions of the Insolvency Act 2000 are in force, there are two types of company voluntary arrangement, with or without a moratorium on creditor action. Moratorium is only available to companies that meet certain criteria.

Members of Axiom have wide expertise in relation to both corporate and personal insolvency. They can provide advice on the law and appear before the courts in both contentious and non-contentious insolvencies.