DISTRICT COURT PUTS AN END TO “BANKRUPTCY TOURISM” CASE

DISTRICT COURT PUTS AN END TO “BANKRUPTCY TOURISM” CASE

DISTRICT COURT PUTS AN END TO “BANKRUPTCY TOURISM” CASE
The Commercial Court of the Moscow District has recently considered a case on an individual's insolvency petition. At first glance, a simple question caused controversy among the judges and provoked the cancellation of two judgments.

The essence of the dispute was - which court should consider an application for declaring a bankruptcy of individual.

On the one hand, a citizen was registered at his place of residence in the region, but on the other hand, he had a registration at his place of stay in Moscow.

What is more, previously, he was registered as an individual entrepreneur in the capital.

The Moscow Commercial Court, the position of which was supported by the court of appeal, did not find a conflict and not only accepted the creditor's claim for proceedings, but also introduced a debt restructuring procedure against the debtor.

However, the potential bankrupt continued to insist on the incorrectly chosen jurisdiction and challenged the court decisions in cassation.

The Commercial Court of the Moscow District listened to the arguments of the applicant and pointed out the premature conclusions of the colleagues', regarding the jurisdiction of the dispute.

Bankruptcy legislation states that the insolvency case of a debtor-citizen, even having the status of an individual entrepreneur, must be considered in court at the place of residence of the latter.

In addition, the debtor lost the status of an individual entrepreneur a year before the filing of the insolvency petition.

What is more, the cassation instance designated the procedure for distributing the burden of proof. The further in time a citizen changed his place of residence from the initiation of a bankruptcy case, the more actively the interested person should prove that the debtor did not live there.

On the contrary, if a citizen re-registered on the eve of the initiation of an insolvency case, then he would have to prove the fact of his residence at the place of registration.

In the case under consideration, registration at the place of residence was made long before the initiation of bankruptcy proceedings, and no evidence that the debtor resided at the specified address was provided by the interested parties (Resolution No. À40-86415 / 2020 in the case of February 17, 2021).


26.02.2021