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This series is comprised of closed insolvency case files. Files fall into two categories viz., bankruptcy (for individuals) and liquidation (for incorporated societies and companies). Both categories are included in this series of records.

Applications for insolvency were administered by the Official Assignee and granted by High Court order. Until 1974 the Official Assignee worked within the (then) Supreme Court. Then, with the establishment of the Department of Justice, Commercial Affairs Division, administration of insolvency was transferred to this agency, although they were still granted by Court Order. Researchers should note therefore that the bankruptcy and liquidation files in this series are not the court files (although they generally do contain a duplicate copy of court papers). However, in general, the files in this series contain more substantial paper work on the insolvency case than do the court files.

The files in this series were registered with an office number, and, for reference only, the relevant court record file number. Files with office numbers date from c.1957 on. (Technically, the predecessor to this series would be Wellington Supreme Court insolvency files, dating earlier than 1957.)

There are also a number of 'unnumbered' insolvency files in accession W3275 of this series that have neither a court number nor an office number. These files appear to be office files that lack formal court documentation.

Readers should also note that some bankruptcy and liquidation files carry part numbers, i.e., MAIN for the first part of the file, and occasionally A, B, C, D as required. The separate files deal with particular aspects of the case.

W5098

This accession identifies file parts by acronym: for example, proof of debt (POD), statement of affairs (SOA), disposal of assets (DOA), documents and advertising (DOCS), property (PROP), accounts (ACCTS) and legal files (LEG).

W5457

This assession also identifies file parts by acronym:

POD Proof of Debts

LEG Legal File

PROS / PRS Prosecution File

BKDT Book Debts

SOA Statement of Accounts

INVS Investigation File

ASET Assets File

LIQR Liquidators' Report

COMP Complaints File

DEB Debenture File

CRED Creditors Invoice File

LEAS Leases File

DOC (General) Document

HSPR House Property File

PROH Prohibition File

CONT Contact File

CO Company File

PSHP Partnership File

PLD Pleadings File

ENFR Enforcement File

BUS Sale of Business

W5619

This accession also identifies file parts by acronym as showed above.

Note: In the file lists the date range for insolvency files covers the initial Date of Adjustment/Date of Winding Up only. In most cases the Date of Release can be two to five years after the initiation of bankruptcy or liquidation proceedings.

The Ministry of Commerce Commercial Affairs Division does operate a public database. Searches of the insolvency database may be made at the ministry’s Insolvency and Trustee Branch internet site: http://www.companies.govt.nz

Running Number with pre-fix 'M.' (i.e. Supreme Court Miscellaneous case file classification). Without reference to the Adjudication Book it is difficult to establish the exact classification system used in the period 1937 - 1953. Prior to this period liquidation case files were part of the same annual single number system used for bankruptcy files. However the classification of liquidation files seems to change c.1936 - 37. They are no longer part of the same series as the bankruptcy files.

Liquidation case file record numbers are preceded with the letter 'M.'. This abbreviation appears to mirror the Supreme Court classification system for Miscellaneous files ('M') controlled by the Miscellaneous Case File Register. The use of the 'M.' prefix followed by a record number is also given to Administration of Estate case files. Under Part IV of the Administration Act 1908 there is provision for the Court to order an estate to be administered by the Official Assignee where the assets of the deceased available for payments of debts are not sufficient. It is possible that the Official Assignee Liquidation and Administration of Estate Case file numbers were not assigned by the Official Assignee's office and no unique number was used during this period. The Supreme Court Miscellaneous number may have been used for convenience or annotated on the files retrospectively. The Registrar of the Supreme Court also held the position of Official Assignee during this period.

While most Liquidation and Administration of Estate Case Files have been given a separate running number with the pre-fix 'M.' ( i.e. the Supreme Court Miscellaneous case file classification), there is one exception to this system of classification. File 41A - Martins Limited ( In Liquidation), 1939 - 41, has been given a running number (followed by the letter A), as part of the bankruptcy case file series. The file is water damaged and an 'M.' Pre-fix number could not be found, but without reference to the Adjudication Book it is difficult to determine without doubt the details of the file classification system. Therefore, the file has been included in both Series 9096 Bankruptcy Case Files and in Series 9097 Liquidation and Administration of Estate Case Files, until further research can be done.

The annual single number system was adopted again in 1954 and continued up until 1990 (?) and this classification included both bankruptcy and liquidation files. Up to 1990 a manual register system [known as the "Adjudication book(s)"] was used to record the existence and essential details of insolvency case files in each regional office. Each insolvency was entered in the register chronologically and each register had an alphabetical index to facilitate easy reference. Bankruptcies were prefixed with the letter 'B' (liquidations with the letter 'C' [company]). Some offices intermingled the bankruptcy and liquidation series and others had a separate number series and register for each.

Each case file consists of a main file, which documents the course of the case and contains the majority of the correspondence relating to the case and various sub-files as required. The sub-files usually consist of: a proof of debt file, which consists of claims by creditors and documentation supporting their claims; and working paper sub-files, if there are assets to be sold. The main file and sub-files are tied together with string and all share the same classification, although each sub-file has an additional alphabetical classification i.e. Sub-file A, Sub-file B, etc. A cover sheet on each file contains the file reference, the court file reference, the title, the type of case (bankruptcy or liquidation), a list of sub-files as well as a list of categories which are circled if relevant to the case.

Insolvencies are categorised into complex and non-complex cases on the basis of the value of the assets and liabilities. To be classified as non-complex as insolvency must meet each of the following:

Liabilities must not exceed $100,000;

- Realisable Assets must not exceed $10,000;

- There must be no 'business activity' within the previous 12 months;

- There must be no 'public interest issues';

- There must be no allegations of illegal activity;

- There must be no litigation anticipated;

- Administration is expected to be completed within 6 months.

Bankruptcy matters are heard in the High Court. Additionally, Debtors may become bankrupt upon their own application to the High Court without any formal hearing. Each insolvency case file contains a copy of the court order granting the bankruptcy or liquidation and the front cover of each file records the court file reference. Therefore the court file can be traced via the case file. However the court file does not document the case file from the Service. Court insolvency case files only contain the formal legal documents such as the application, notices of motion, as well as the various court orders relating to the granting and discharge of bankruptcy as well as affidavits in support if notices of motion. The court files do not describe the work of the NZ Insolvency and Trustee Service.

Applications for insolvency i.e. bankruptcy in the case of individuals and liquidation in the case of an incorporation, were administered by the Official Assignee, Hamilton Regional Office and were granted by a Hamilton Supreme Court order.

Until 1975, the Official Assignee worked within the (then) Hamilton Supreme Court. From 1975 administration of insolvency was transferred to the Department of Justice, Commercial Affairs Division, Hamilton, although insolvencies were still granted by court order.Therefore, from 1975 there were two records of each insolvency - the Commercial Affairs case file [series 10050], and a separate court file. The court files contained legal documents only.

In 1995 the function was controlled by the Ministry of Commerce, Hamilton District Office. The Ministry of Commerce was subsequently taken over by the Ministry of Economic Development, who continued to maintain the same classification system for insolvency files.

The files in series 10550 were arranged by a single running number which was generated by the New Zealand Insolvency Service, Hamilton. The files were also annotated with the court generated bankruptcy number.

Each insolvency had a 'main' file, with other files relating to different aspects of the insolvency as required e.g. 'proof of debt', 'statement of affairs', 'disposal of assets', 'accounts', and 'legal'.

From May 2001 onwards, all insolvency files were registered with a 6 digit number beginning with 8 onto the national database OASIS II and subsequently OASIS III. Hamilton Insolvency files were no longer assigned file numbers by the Hamilton Regional Office. Some Hamilton Insolvency files bearing regional file numbers assigned previously were registered on OASIS II, with a prefix of 2 added to the the front of the existing file number. Hamilton Insolvency Office was still responsible for the administration of files bearing National numbers relating to bankruptcies and insolvencies within the Hamilton region.

Annual single number classification given to each file. This system was used for the period c.1913 - 1936. In 1937 there was a change in the classification system for a period of 17 years. The annual single number system was adopted again in 1954 and continued up until 1990 (?).

Up to 1990 a manual register system [known as the "Adjudication book(s)"] was used to record the existence and essential details of insolvency case files in each regional office. Each insolvency was entered in the register chronologically and each register had an alphabetical index to facilitate easy reference. Bankruptcies were prefixed with the letter 'B' (liquidations with the letter 'C' [company]). Some offices intermingled the bankruptcy and liquidation series and others had a separate number series and register for each. In the case of Invercargill it seems as though the bankruptcy and liquidation series were intermingled but this needs to be confirmed by checking the Adjudication Book.

Each case file consists of a main file, which documents the course of the case and contains the majority of the correspondence relating to the case and various sub-files as required. The sub-files usually consist of: a proof of debt file, which consists of claims by creditors and documentation supporting their claims; and working paper sub-files, if there are assets to be sold. The main file and sub-files are tied together with string and all share the same classification, although each sub-file has an additional alphabetical classification i.e. Sub-file A, Sub-file B, etc. A cover sheet on each file contains the file reference, the court file reference, the title, the type of case (bankruptcy or liquidation), a list of sub-files as well as a list of categories which are circled if relevant to the case.

Insolvencies are categorised into complex and non-complex cases on the basis of the value of the assets and liabilities. To be classified as non-complex an insolvency must meet each of the following:

· Liabilities must not exceed $100,000;

· Realisable Assets must not exceed $10,000;

· There must be no 'business activity' within the previous 12 months;

· There must be no 'public interest issues';

· There must be no allegations of illegal activity;

· There must be no litigation anticipated;

· Administration is expected to be completed within 6 months.

Bankruptcy matters are heard in the High Court. Additionally, Debtors may become bankrupt upon their own application to the High Court without any formal hearing. Each insolvency case file contains a copy of the court order granting the bankruptcy or liquidation and the front cover of each file records the court file reference. Therefore, the court file can be traced via the case file. However, the court file does not document the case file from the Service. Court insolvency case files only contain the formal legal documents such as the application, notices of motion, as well as the various court orders relating to the granting and discharge of bankruptcy as well as affidavits in support of notices of motion. The court files do not describe the work of the NZ Insolvency and Trustee Service.

The files in series 7606 are arranged by running number. However, while the files in the predecessor series 7604 were classified according to a running bankruptcy number, this series follows the changes introduced in 1954 by the (then) Napier Supreme Court, who applied a running “Office Number” prefixed by ‘OA’. This number was recorded on each file, with the bankruptcy number written immediately below.

Applications for insolvency i.e. bankruptcy in the case of individuals and liquidation in the case of an incorporation, are administered by the Official Assignee and are granted by High Court order.

Until 1972, the Official Assignee worked within the (then) Supreme Court. With the establishment of the Department of Justice Commercial Affairs Division in 1972, administration of insolvency was transferred to this agency, although they were still granted by court order.

W5008, W5098 & W5414

The files in accession W5008, ranging from 1954 to c.1973, were created by the Napier Supreme Court. Later files, including many of those in accession W5098, were created by the Commercial Affairs Division of the Department of Justice, who maintained the same classification system (office number with court bankruptcy number underneath).

In 1995 this function was moved to the Ministry of Commerce, later re-named the Ministry of Economic Development, and they took over the records, maintaining the same classification system.

Therefore, from 1973, there are two records of every insolvency - the Commercial Affairs case file and a separate court file. The court files contain only the formal legal documents and are not held by Archives New Zealand.

Researchers should note that as well as a running office number, bankruptcy and liquidation files carry part numbers, i.e. MAIN for first part of the file, and then A, B, C, D as required. The separate files deal with particular aspects of the case and were occasionally identified by acronym; for example, proof of debt (POD), statement of affairs (SOA), disposal of assets (DOA), documents and advertising (DOCS), property (PROP), accounts (ACCTS), legal file (LEG).

Progressive running number (1-131?). Without reference to the Adjudication Book it is difficult to establish the exact classification system used in the period 1937 - 1953 but the files no longer have a consistent annual single number classification. At the beginning of 1937 the files appear to use an annual single number system as a number followed by a year is used (*/37) but in 1938 the numbering does not start again at one but instead continues on. Occasionally the file number is still followed by a year (*/year date) but it is not an annual single number. This running number is the same number as that used by the Supreme Court Bankruptcy Register for its Bankruptcy files.

It is possible that the Official Assignee Bankruptcy Case file numbers were not assigned by the Official Assignee's office and no unique number was used during this period. The Supreme Court bankruptcy number may have been used for convenience or annotated on the files retrospectively. The Registrar of the Supreme Court also held the position of Official Assignee during this period.

While most Liquidation and Administration of Estate Case Files have been given a separate running number with the pre-fix 'M.' ( i.e. the Supreme Court Miscellaneous case file classification), there is one exception to this system of classification. File 41A - Martins Limited ( In Liquidation), 1939 - 41, has been given a running number (followed by the letter A), as part of the bankruptcy case file series. The file is water damaged and a 'M.' Pre-fix number could not be found, but without reference to the Adjudication Book it is difficult to determine without doubt the details of the file classification system. Therefore, the file has been included in both Series 9096 Bankruptcy Case Files and in Series 9097 Liquidation and Administration of Estate Case Files, until further research can be done. The annual single number system was adopted again in 1954 and continued up until 1990(?).

Up to 1990 a manual register system [known as the "Adjudication book(s)"] was used to record the existence and essential details of insolvency case files in each regional office. Each insolvency was entered in the register chronologically and each register had an alphabetical index to facilitate easy reference. Bankruptcies were prefixed with the letter 'B' (liquidations with the letter 'C' [company]). Some offices intermingled the bankruptcy and liquidation series and others had a separate number series and register for each.

Each case file consists of a main file, which documents the course of the case and contains the majority of the correspondence relating to the case and various sub-files as required. The sub-files usually consist of: a proof of debt file, which consists of claims by creditors and documentation supporting their claims; and working paper sub-files, if there are assets to be sold. The main file and sub-files are tied together with string and all share the same classification, although each sub-file has an additional alphabetical classification i.e. Sub-file A, Sub-file B, etc. A cover sheet on each file contains the file reference, the court file reference, the title, the type of case (bankruptcy or liquidation), a list of sub-files as well as a list of categories which are circled if relevant to the case.

Insolvencies are categorised into complex and non-complex cases on the basis of the value of the assets and liabilities. To be classified as non-complex as insolvency must meet each of the following:

- Liabilities must not exceed $100,000;

- Realisable Assets must not exceed $10,000;

- There must be no 'business activity' within the previous 12 months;

- There must be no 'public interest issues';

- There must be no allegations of illegal activity;

- There must be no litigation anticipated;

- Administration is expected to be completed within 6 months.

Bankruptcy matters are heard in the High Court. Additionally, Debtors may become bankrupt upon their own application to the High Court without any formal hearing. Each insolvency case file contains a copy of the court order granting the bankruptcy or liquidation and the front cover of each file records the court file reference. Therefore the court file can be traced via the case file. However the court file does not document the case file from the Service. Court insolvency case files only contain the formal legal documents such as the application, notices of motion, as well as the various court orders relating to the granting and discharge of bankruptcy as well as affidavits in support if notices of motion. The court files do not describe the work of the NZ Insolvency and Trustee Service.

The files are arranged by running number. However there are some gaps within this series. Insolvency files from the Southland and Timaru area often have a prefix of ‘S’ or ‘T’ respectively.

Applications for insolvency, i.e. bankruptcy (individuals) and liquidations (for incorporated societies and companies), were administered by the Official Assignee and granted by High Court Order. In 1995 the Department of Justice was disestablished, and the operation of the Commercial Affairs Division of Justice was transferred to the Ministry of Commerce, however this series of files continued through these organisational changes.

From 1 January 1983, the Dunedin Official Assignee became responsible for the Southland region, and from this date, new records were added into this series.

Each insolvency has a main file, which documents the course of the case and contains the majority of the correspondence relating the case. There are also various sub-files as required. A bankruptcy file generally contains a Proof of Debt File, while liquidation files generally contain a Proof of Debt File and a GST [Goods and Services Tax] File. The following is a list of sub-files that may also be found, although this list is not exhaustive:

Statement of Affairs and Proxies

Court Documents File

Investigation File

Documents and Advertising

Prosecution File

Invoices Submitted Upon Adjudication

Creditors Invoices and Correspondence File

Matrimonial File

Rejected Proof of Debt

Debtors Journal

Bookdebt File

Register File

Minute Book

Bankrupts File

Correspondence File

Interview Minutes

Miscellaneous

Most files have a Court reference, which is listed in the record description field after the name and description of the file. Liquidation files have a prefix of ‘M’ (part of the Court Miscellaneous Case Files) and Bankruptcy files have a prefix of ‘B.’

Relevant Legislation is the Insolvency Act 1967, the Companies Act 1955 and the Companies Act 1993.

Applications for insolvency i.e. bankruptcy in the case of individuals and liquidation in the case of an incorporation, were administered by the Official Assignee, Auckland Regional Office and were granted by an Auckland Supreme Court order.

Until 1972, the Official Assignee worked within the (then) Auckland Supreme Court. With the establishment of the Department of Justice, Commercial Affairs Division, Auckland in 1972, administration of insolvency was transferred to this agency, although insolvencies were still granted by court order. In 1995 the function was taken over by the Ministry of Commerce, Auckland District Office. The Ministry of Commerce was subsequently taken over by the Ministry of Economic Development, who maintained the same classification system for insolvency files. Therefore, from 1972 there were two records of each insolvency - the Commercial Affairs case file [series 5821], and a separate court file. The court files contained legal documents only.

The files in series 5821 were arranged by a single running number which was generated by the Official Assignee / Commercial Affairs Division Auckland. The files were also annotated with the court generated bankruptcy number.

Each insolvency had a 'main' file, with other files relating to different aspects of the insolvency as required e.g. 'proof of debt', 'statement of affairs', 'disposal of assets', 'accounts', and 'legal'.

Whangarei insolvency files were transferred to Commercial Affairs Division, Auckland in 1993. Active Whangarei insolvency files were integrated into the Auckland file series.

Series 5821 ended 2001 when the Ministry of Economic Development centralised the documentation of insolvencies into a national database.

Applications for insolvency (bankruptcy in the case of individuals and liquidation in the case of an incorporation) are administered by the Official Assignee and are granted by High Court order.

Until 1972, the Official Assignee worked within the (then) Napier Supreme Court. With the establishment of the Department of Justice, Commercial Affairs Division in 1972, administration of insolvency was transferred to this agency although they were still granted by court order. The files in this series were therefore created by the Napier Supreme Court and then transferred to the Commercial Affairs Division.

These files are arranged chronologically by running number (B 1 - B 898). The running number is the Supreme Court bankruptcy number.

From file number 1/1923 [box 1] to 138/1926 [box 5], the file number is comprised of both the bankruptcy number and year. The bankruptcy number alone appears on subsequent files.

This series was discontinued with the introduction of a new file classification system in 1954. (See successor series 7606).

Other records related to this series can be found in accession W3244. This accession has only been partially serialised, therefore the unserialised accession list should be consulted. The related records concerned are Estate/Bankruptcy Ledgers; Book Debts Ledger; Official Assignee Abstract Book and Cash Book.