Sequestration - Voluntary Surrender

It all starts with the first step - Contact us! We will do a free, no obligation debt assessment and based thereon, we will advise you on any viable options available as alternatives to sequestration.

Requirements

Applying to be declared insolvent, also referred to as a 'Voluntary Surrender'. It's done by way of a motion application to the relevant High Court. The court must be satisfied the following requirements have been met, in order to grant the order sequestrating your estate: 

1. That provisions in section 4 of the Insolvency, 1936 have been complied with; 
2. That your estate is insolvent, i.e. your liabilities exceed the value of your assets;
3. That your assets if sold, will be of sufficient value to cover the administration costs involved;
4. That it will be to the advantage of your creditors if your estate is sequestrated. An advantage to creditors is considered to be a dividend of at least 20c per Rand owed to concurrent creditors. 

Only if these requirements were met, may the court consider granting the sequestration order.

Statement of Affairs

In order to comply with these requirements, we have to start by drafting a Statement of Affairs, which consists of a complete list of your assets and liabilities, as well as the reason for your sequestration and some personal information.

The second step would be to obtain a valuation certificate to validate the anticipated value of the assets. Once this has been done and the relevant calculation projects a dividend of at least 20c per Rand as being payable to concurrent creditors, will the affidavits for the application be drafted.

Allocation of a court date will be requested and 30 days prior to the court date, an advert will be published in the Government Gazette and a locally circulated newspaper, confirming that the Statement of affairs would lie open for public inspection at the office of the Master of  the High Court as well as the local Magistrate's office situated nearest to you, for a period of 14 days.

Once the period has passed without any objection, a certificate of inspection will be issued by both the  Master of  the High Court, as well as the Magistrate's office which will for part of the application as proof of compliance with section 4.  The Statement of Affairs and Valuation Certificate will serve as proof of both your insolvency and the estate having assets of sufficient value to discharge the sequestration costs.

The application will then be enrolled to be heard and our chosen advocate will be briefed to tend to the application on the court date. The advocate will then attend the the court proceedings, argue the case and advise us of the outcome.