Kay and Inspector-General in Bankruptcy

This matter concerned an appeal by Mr Gregory Stephen Kay against a decision of the Inspector-General in Bankruptcy. The dispute centred on the correct filing date of Mr Kay's Statement of Affairs (SOA) for the purposes of his bankruptcy, which had commenced on 17 April 2014. The Inspector-General had refused to amend the recorded filing date in the National Personal Insolvency Index, leading to Mr Kay's appeal to the Tribunal.

The primary legal issue before the Tribunal was to determine the date on which Mr Kay's SOA was deemed to have been received by the relevant authority, specifically in light of Regulation 103 of the Bankruptcy Regulations. This regulation stipulated that a document is taken to be received, filed, or lodged only when it is actually received by the Inspector-General or the Official Receiver. The Tribunal also had to consider the evidence presented regarding the posting of the SOA and whether it met the requirements for deemed receipt.

The Tribunal affirmed the Inspector-General's decision, finding that the evidence presented by Ms Kay, Mr Kay's wife, regarding the posting of the SOA in December 2015 was unsatisfactory. While Ms Kay stated she posted the SOAs with postage stamps at an Oxenford post office in December 2015, her evidence was inconsistent with earlier statements, including an application to the Tribunal which suggested a filing date of December 2014. Crucially, Regulation 103(3) requires actual receipt of the document, and there was no evidence that the SOAs were actually received by the Inspector-General or the Official Receiver. The Tribunal noted that any belief by Mr or Ms Kay that the SOA had been lodged was irrelevant to the determination of the filing date under the Act and Regulations.