The Insolvency (Northern Ireland) Order 1989

Power of High Court to annul bankruptcy order

256.—(1) The High Court may annul a bankruptcy order if it at any time appears to the Court—

(a) that, on any grounds existing at the time the order was made, the order ought not to have been made, or

(b) that, to the extent required by the rules, the bankruptcy debts and the expenses of the bankruptcy have all, since the making of the order, been either paid or secured for to the satisfaction of the Court.

(2) The High Court may annul a bankruptcy order whether or not the bankrupt has been discharged from the bankruptcy.

(3) The High Court shall annul a bankruptcy order made on a petition under Article 238(1)(d) if it at any time appears to the Courtthat the order appointing the Law Society of Northern Ireland as attorney for the solicitor has been rescinded in consequence of an appeal.

(4) Where the High Court annuls a bankruptcy order (whether under this Article or under Article 235)—

(a) any sale or other disposition of property, payment made or other thing duly done, under any provision in Parts VIII to X, by or under the authority of the official receiver or a trustee of the bankrupt’s estate or by the Court is valid, but

(b) if any of the bankrupt’s estate is then vested, under any such provision, in such a trustee, it shall vest in such person as the Court may appoint or, in default of any such appointment, revert to the bankrupt on such terms (if any) as the Court may direct;

and the Court may include in its order such supplemental provisions as may be authorised by the rules.

(5) In determining for the purposes of Article 253 whether a person was an undischarged bankrupt at any time, any time when he was a bankrupt by virtue of an order that was subsequently annulled is to be disregarded.